One if five people suffer from some sort of mental illness. Due to the stresses of life, change, and social adaptation, teens and students are especially at risk. (retrieved from shutterstock)
Did you know that one in five people suffer from some sort of mental illness? Think of how many people you talk to in a day. Imagine all the people in your life. Picture those you love most and why you love them. Now, remember that statistically one in every five is suffering with a mental illness and chances are you don’t even know it.
I won’t lie, I have been completely oblivious to this subject until recently, when a friend and I were talking. He confided in me about how he suffers with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. I immediately thought about the movie What About Bob? Although the stigma towards mental health is changing, I was still a little uneasy because I felt helpless—not knowing how to help my friend.. Not that I didn’t want to help—mental health is just a completely foreign concept to me. I’ve never experienced mental illness in my own life, but statistically 20-percent of my friends have.
NON-PROFIT PR
Soon after speaking with my friend, I was contacted by five students from Brigham Young University (BYU) who were conducting a PR campaign for the non-profit organization The Campaign to Change Direction. I don’t believe in coincidence. I had to cover their story.
The art of promotion is at its pinnacle when resonance is created between publics, audiences, or clientele and whatever is being promoted. This may not seem like a daunting task for well-established products and brands, but many professionals find that early in their career, they work predominantly with brands and messages that lack the Vogue front-page flair.
The healthcare industry is an industry where these sorts of messages and campaigns are common. The Holmes’ World PR Report noted that for 2015, nearly 40 percent of all PR jobs were in the healthcare industry with room to grow in coming years. Mental health can be a difficult topic, and finding the correct channels to reach intended targets can be even more arduous. This group of BYU public relations students, working with a non-profit, succeed in overcoming these challenges and spreading awareness to thousands of local high school students.
The Campaign to Change Direction is a non-profit organization whose focus is to create a common language about mental health. They do this by teaching about the five signs of emotional suffering. Just like there are warning signs for someone having a seizure, stroke, etc., there are also warning signs that help us recognize emotional suffering in ourselves and others. They are as follows:
- Personality Change
- Agitation
- Withdrawal
- Poor self-care
- Hopelessness
The BYU students created a campaign centered around these five signs. Their target audience was high school students from three local schools. They had their work cut out for them because millennials are notorious for being loud, obnoxious, and self-absorbed. However, the BYU students designed a PR plan that was perfect for sinking into the fast-paced life of the millennials.
LOCAL CELEBRITIES
Youtube star Maddie Wilson poses with high school students. Maddie is a Utah local who is making her mark in the music industry.
The group found local celebrities that they knew the high school students respected. These local celebrities were “real” with the students regarding their own struggles, and explained some of the things they endured with mental health. This really connected the celebrities with the students in a very genuine way. The emotional connection also gave students the incentive to look up from their phones and actually pay attention. Celebrities such as Matt Meese, from the rising comedy Studio C, delivered the message of the five signs at the high schools over the school's video announcements. Utah’s up-and-coming YouTube sensation, Maddie Wilson, performed a concert at Maple Mountain High School for all the students who memorized the five signs and spoke about her personal experience with depression. Lastly, Utah Valley University’s Green Man Group brought over 300 students into the gym at lunchtime to listen to more messaging about the five signs of emotional suffering with interactive activities.
USE CURRENT TRENDS TO YOUR ADVANTAGE
Springville High School students pose in one of their Snapchat filters used at the school. Springville High had over 10,000 views on their filters alo
The next thing the BYU team did was take advantage of current trends among high school students. Snapchat is the new trendy social media platform. More than 60-percent of 13-34 year olds who own smartphones use Snapchat. In order to appeal to their audiences’ self-interests, these BYU students designed multiple Snapchat filters that were geofenced specifically to the high schools. Each filter had a different message or a pledge making the students more aware of the signs of mental health. Instead of competing with the distractions that plague high school students 24/7, the campaign sent their messages to the platforms and places where the high school students already were.
THINK LIKE YOUR AUDIENCE
Students at Maple Mountain High School host “Waffle Wednesday” encouraging students to learn the Five Signs of anxiety and depression. Maple Mountain students were given a free waffle lunch if they were able to memorize and explain all five signs.
Ultimately, the BYU students stuck to the basics and put themselves in any teenager’s shoes. Every event they planned was catered specifically to teenagers. The one that stood out to me was their Waffle Wednesday where all the high school students were invited to a free waffle lunch if they learned about and memorized the five signs of emotional suffering. This event alone brought in over 300 high school students during lunch! PR and marketing need to be constantly asking themselves, “What’s in it for them?”
DID IT SINK IN FOR MILLENNIALS?
Utah Valley University’s Green Man Group hosts a lunchtime performance for Maple Mountain high school students. Over 300 students and spoke about the importance of knowing the five signs of someone suffering with mental illness.
Did it work? No doubt. After the campaign, a post-survey was conducted and it showed that over 80-percent of the students knew the five signs of mental suffering compared to the less than 10-percent before the campaign. In addition to this, in the post-survey, students expressed their understanding and empathy towards friends who experience mental health issues. This is evidence of a huge culture change on mental health that occurred in the schools.
In short, appealing to millennials is much easier than you think. There is no need to force changes in their habits when the habits and behaviors are completely accessible to any marketer or PR specialist. Use the assets available and research can put you right into their hands. It might require creativity, but for these BYU students, a little effort and creativity proved to be the most indispensable pieces of the campaign.
Do you have questions about how to market your services or products to millennials? Have you found success in applying certain strategies and tactics? If so, reach out via comments, or find me on twitter @e_sizzl.