Beyondblue renews Man Therapy TV push during summer of sport
The success of Beyondblue’s Man Therapy campaign which aims to improve men’s wellbeing and reduce the rate of male suicide has seen the charity organisation renew the campaign’s push, with ads appearing in various televised sport events this summer.
Melbourne-based creative agency Marmalade, features the fictional Dr Brian Ironwood as the face of the Man Therapy campaign.
The Man Therapy website hosts various videos of the doctor in which he talks to his target audience and encourages them to “grab the bull by the balls and get on with it” and take charge of their mental health.
It also provides users with a mental health quiz, tips and advice on dealing with anxiety and depression and stories from men who have overcome mental health problems.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2bUP6KxOqs
Beyondblue GM marketing and communications Janine Scott told Mumbrella: “Over the first two pushes we drove over 300,000 men to the website. It’s a big response, it shows that there is a need out there and that men do want a different and fresh kind of communication on mental health.”
“Suicide is the biggest killer of Australian males aged 15 to 44, one in eight men experience depression in a lifetime and one in five experience anxiety but they’re much less likely to support than women. Our irreverent, straight talking Dr Brian Ironwood is all about using humour and straight talk to urge men to have the balls to take charge of their own mental health. He’s a very quintessential Aussie bloke and he offers humour and practical useful tips and a mind quiz to assess your own mental health.
“Why we’re doing it again is to keep the message out there, we have chosen to go with a summer of sport campaign as we want to be where men are and in what they’re watching.”
The Man Therapy campaign began a renewed television push on Boxing Day that was broadcast during the Boxing Day Test. The TV campaign has continued to be broadcast during the Ashes, and is playing during Big Bash cricket games on Channel Ten.
It will also run during the TV broadcasts of the one-day cricket games, during broadcasts of the NAB Cup (AFL) and during the Ironman series.
The renewed push will run until February 23.
“Already we have driven 14,000 more men to the Man Therapy site and that’s jut in the first two weeks following Boxing Day,” Scott told Mumbrella.
“All our research showed that this is something completely new in the mental health space for men. Men don’t enjoy formality, they associate some stigma with getting support and Brian Ironwood just cuts through all of that and talks to you as a friend would talk to you. He’s a man looking out for other men.
“The overall push is that men can see seeking support as a failure but in fact its the right and manly thing to do and that’s what this campaign asserts.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrX17nOThgU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REdc0ok94Wk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bIMByyhWx0
Credits:
- Agency: Marmalade Melbourne
- ECD: Neil Mallet
- CD: John Akritidis
- Creative: Frank Trobbiani
- Media Agency: MediaCom
- Agency Producer: Beaver
Miranda Ward worked for Mumbrella from 2013 to 2017, eventually becoming deputy editor. Miranda joined Mumbrella in September 2013 from Sky News.
Linkedin
For mine, this has been the best media/ad campaign in Australia for the past 12 months. I can’t believe it didn’t get more recognition.
User ID not verified.
Another great media platform and buy that gets little credit.
User ID not verified.
Excellent.
User ID not verified.
But they assume that all visitors to the site are men! What about women!? What about other users apart from men seeking help for themselves? Surely a good marketing campaign should build on knowledge of the market actually using the product… Dr. Brian’s corny, non-threatening man persona might be drawing in a lot of women like me… Anyway, the whole site is mainly about men doing things for themselves and/or other men. There’s very little reference to family – wife and kids, especially – but also parents and brothers and sisters, and mates who happen to be women… (There are a few deprecating remarks about the wife-kids, all in a ‘humorous’ way, apparently. If you believe what they say about their campaign.)
User ID not verified.