Case Studies

According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the US and the second leading cause of death amongst young adults. Seize the Awkward , a campaign by the Ad Council, The Jed Foundation (JED) and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, found that friends of young adults struggling with mental health issues can be influential in helping them get the support that they need, when they need it. To help young people start a conversation about mental health with their friends, Seize the Awkward launched a series of video ads on Instagram.

In a 10-week campaign targeting those aged 16-24 in the United States on Instagram, Seize The Awkward delivered short video ads as well as interactive polling ads to help young people start a conversation about mental health. The campaign delivered multiple assets with a call-to-action encouraging people to get tips and tools for talking about mental health with friends by visiting SeizeTheAwkward.org.

The campaign also leveraged an AR Filter that showed prompts around “What Gets U Talking?” and engaged the Instagram audience, using the Question Sticker and comments to ask people how they reach out to friends in need. Those responses informed the creative campaign leading to a community-first, interactive approach.

The campaign reached over 14M young people in the US and over 600K recalled seeing the ad. It also led to a lift of 169K people agreeing that they felt comfortable starting a conversation with their friends about their mental health.

The campaign also tested different frequencies to determine which were most effective at delivering this cause-driven message. Average weekly frequencies at about 1.0 were most effective at driving lift in comfort having a conversation about mental health.