The One Show
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Category
Integrated PR Campaign
Annual ID
OS23_PR021S
About the Work
Crying, anger, despair. People think they know what suicidal looks like. And in the absence of these signs, they don’t intervene.
With 125 people taking their own lives each week, long-term partners CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) and ITV (the UK’s largest commercial TV station) urgently needed to highlight the truth that suicidal doesn’t always look suicidal.
So on the happiest day of the year, we co-created The Last Photo: a hard-hitting campaign that started a vital national conversation and empowered the UK to help prevent suicide.
With zero budget for paid media, every aspect of this campaign was designed to deliver maximum earned reach.
Two days before the campaign launch, we unveiled a huge installation of 50 smiling portraits on London’s iconic South Bank – with no mention of CALM, ITV or suicide. Visitors saw people living what appeared to be rich, happy lives. This generated an enormous amount of intrigue across social media.
Two days later, on the happiest day of the year, the press were invited to the official launch of the campaign, when the shocking true nature of the experience was revealed. These were the genuine last photos of people who later died by suicide.
The families of those featured were invited to the launch alongside CALM’s celebrity ambassadors, providing live interviews to further explain their direct experience with suicide. This further amplified the reach of the conversation.
ITV broadcast this launch to millions of people live on This Morning, the UK’s most popular morning show. This kickstarted huge coverage across the British and international press, even leading a live broadcast the following day on BBC Breakfast - ITV’s main competitor.
The campaign received 750 pieces of coverage and generated the largest-ever conversation about suicide across social media, including a 24 hour period when the campaign film was the most-discussed video on Reddit globally.
2023 Awards
Total Points: 21
Silver Pencil
Credits
Agency
adam&eveDDB / London
Design Firm
King Henry / London
PR / Marketing Agency
Hope&Glory / London
Agency In-House Production Company
cain&abelDDB / London
Production Company
Creative Giants / Brighton
Music / Sound Production Company
Radford Music / London
Wave Studios / London
Post Production Company
Final Cut / London
Media Distribution Company
the7stars / London
Chief Creative Officer
Richard Brim
Creative Director
Andy Clough
Richard McGrann
Designer
Scott Silvey
Director
Max Fisher
Executive Creative Director
Ant Nelson
Mike Sutherland
Music Supervisor
James Radford
Producer
Amy Simmons
Account Director
Rosie Snowball
Account Executive
Freddie Reeve
Project Manager
Rasha Noronha
Account Manager
Lily Barber
Business Director
Louis Lunts
Head of Planning
Will Grundy
Joint Head of Production
Ben Sharpe
Jack Bayley
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