During the first lockdown, switching socialising for social distancing had a huge impact on the UK’s mental health. Over the past 3 years we’ve had close ties to Samaritans, a charity set up to offer support to those in need by listening and exploring feelings with callers who are in distress. But – with volunteers self-isolating and call volumes increasing during the first Lockdown – they were feeling the pressure.

We reached out to our friends at the Brighton branch to try and do something about it. We set out to create a campaign video to drive donations that in turn, would help make their call centres safer, allowing volunteers to continue to come in and pick up the phones.

Taking a people first approach, we stripped the idea down to just a girl, alone, in her room, in need of someone to listen. We hear the caller tone on her phone continuously ringing as the onscreen narrative describes why donations are needed now, more than ever. As a Samaritan picks up the phone, the girl’s eyes flicker with hope and the film cuts.

Originally intended for Brighton and Hove Samaritans branch, the charity HQ decided they loved the effectiveness of the concept and repurposed the video to be rolled out for a national TV and Digital Advertising Campaign for their Emergency Appeal. During June, the video was played for two weeks over thirty-seven channels spanning the UK. It had a fantastic outreach, capturing over 1,040,000 viewers across TV and social media and achieving over 4000 reacts on social media.