In rapid-response to the COVID-19 pandemic reaching the United Kingdom, leading mental health charities Samaritans, Mind, Shout 85258 and Hospice UK joined forces, together with The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, to create Our Frontline, offering easy access to free mental health support for frontline workers. 100 Vision were a core part of the team from the start, leading on campaign development, coordination and communications, and working with partners to create content, moments and opportunities that were flexible to the ever-changing needs and pressures of the pandemic.
To reach key workers across the UK, 100 Vision worked with And Rising to create major campaign moments to amplify the support on offer. The launch centred on a video combining powerful still photography with music from Duran Duran and celebrity narration, backed with PR and pro bono advertising. The ‘Take a Deep Breath’ cross-media advertising campaign, run as the country came out of the series of lock downs, reached more than 35 million people. This moment focused on reaching health and social care workers, who continued to feel the pressure of the pandemic. In addition to outdoor, digital and print media advertising secured with pro bono support from Mindshare, Take a Deep Breath was also adapted as a radio advert, voiced by Fearne Cotton.
Creating space to share the stories of frontline workers was a crucial part of the Our Frontline campaign. 100 Vision developed a Christmas show with Hits Radio and Headstock, where family and friends could nominate key workers to be celebrated on the show, giving recognition to the incredible work they do. 100 Vision also coordinated on sharing a personal message from The Duke of Cambridge, thanking key workers for their ongoing work to support the nation, which was shared across Our Frontline’s digital channels, Kensington Royal channels and Instagram.
100 Vision also developed multiple ‘mini-campaign moments’, such as the ‘Weather the Storm’ digital campaign, providing guidance and resources for key workers to help them weather the storm and look after their wellbeing. Throughout the pandemic the pressure on health, social care & emergency services remained, all whilst coping with bereavement on a scale that most would have never experienced before. To provide specialist bereavement and trauma support, Hospice UK launched the ‘Just B’ helpline for health, social care & emergency service workers. To launch this service, 100vision coordinated communications for a launch involving The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge hearing stories from frontline workers and encouraging others to reach out for help.
Our Frontline’s messaging, focus and communications activity, had to be flexible to change throughout the pandemic. To achieve this, 100 Vision kept track of the stories and concerns key workers voiced across social media to ensure all external communications reflected their needs and shifts in tone. Content was then created in line with these needs and the main topics that key workers were reaching out to the partner services for support with, such as burnout and anxiety tips. Additionally, 100 Vision liaised with Instagram on an advertising campaign, receiving ad spend to test messaging and target key workers. You can read the full report on Our Frontline’s impact here.
7m+ impressions and 328,000+ engagements on Our Frontline social channels
50,000+ support conversations with frontline workers
277,000 visits to the Our Frontline support page
The Take a Deep Breath campaign reached over 35m people
Charity Collaboration of the Year Award: Charity Times 2022
9 influencers engaged, including Fearne Cotton
“We knew at Shout that we had to do something urgently to support frontline workers and the 100 Vision leapt immediately into action with us. They developed a communications strategy with our partners and brought together our respective communications teams and supporting agencies to function as a united team, having a far greater impact than we could have had individually. Together we launched a fully-fledged campaign in a matter of days, with a website, social media channels and a high-quality advertising campaign. 100 Vision approached the ever-changing needs of the campaign with enthusiasm and creativity, helping to keep the partners aligned and working well together, driving the strategy for an award-winning campaign and ultimately, helping us all to support frontline workers as they support us.”
