Winners & Shortlists

WOULD YOU ANSWER THIS SUICIDE CALL?

Short List
TitleWOULD YOU ANSWER THIS SUICIDE CALL?
BrandZELFMOORDLIJN
Product/ServiceVOLUNTEERS RECRUITMENT
Category B04. FUNDRAISING, CHARITIES, APPEALS, NON-PROFIT ORGANISATIONS, PUBLIC HEALTH & SAFETY, PUBLIC AWARENESS
Entrant Company OGILVY GROUP Brussels, BELGIUM
Advertising Agency OGILVY GROUP Brussels, BELGIUM
PR Agency OGILVY PUBLIC RELATIONS Brussels, BELGIUM
Credits
Name Company Position
Sam De Win Ogilvy Group Brussels Executive Creative Director
Brigitte Bourgeois Ogilvy Group Brussels Art Director
Nathalie Strybos Ogilvy Group Brussels Copywriter
Tomas Sweertvaegher Ogilvy Group Brussels Strategy Director
Audrey Laurent Ogilvy Group Brussels Account Manager
Elise Carpentier Ogilvy Group Brussels Account Executive
Bruno Dejonghe Ogilvy Group Brussels Agency Producer
Jan Boon TRS Director
Frederik Zaman TRS Executive Producer

The Campaign

The Flemish suicide prevention hotline (“Zelfmoordlijn”) needed 250 volunteers to answer emergency calls. The better qualified the candidates, the sooner they can start out as actual volunteers (after successfully passing an intensive training). However, answering a call from someone with suicidal thoughts is not something everybody feels comfortable with. Therefore, we performed an experiment to preselect potential candidates. We put a Zelfmoordlijn branded phone in a public place and let the phone ring. Every time the phone rang, it became clear that there was a person on the other end of the line looking for help. The activity was hard to ignore and we felt the discomfort of the public. We filmed the experiment with the aim of transmitting the same emotional experience that passers-by felt to the viewers of the movie clip. The video was launched 2 days before World Suicide Prevention Day with the support of both online and offline PR outreach. The results surpassed our and our client’s expectations: in just one week of PR activity, we managed to reach out to 5,600,000 people with coverage on literally all news websites. In addition to this, the most important TV news editions aired the full film. On YouTube, the video got +90,000 views with 85% of people watching the full video. Website traffic went up by 400%. While the objective of Zelfmoordlijn was to recruit 250 candidate-volunteers, we managed to drive applications up to 450 interested people. Even better, according to Zelfmoordlijn, the candidates were highly qualified.

The Brief

Zelfmoordlijn was looking for 250 volunteers to answer the calls of people in trouble. The better qualified these candidate-volunteers would be, the sooner they could actually start out as volunteers (after successfully passing an intensive training).

Results

The results surpassed our client’s and our expectations: - Zelfmoordlijn’s website traffic peaked and went up by 400% compared to the preceding months. - In just one week of PR activity, we managed to reach to 5,600,000 people (-> Flanders has 6.000.000 inhabitants) with coverage on literally all news websites, but also on the most important TV news editions, that showed our entire film 3 times during prime time. - On YouTube, the video got +90,000 views. - More than 85% of people watched the full one-minute video. - Most importantly, the objective of Zelfmoordlijn to recruit 250 candidates was exceeded with more than 450 people registering as candidate-volunteers. On top of this according to Zelfmoordlijn, all candidates were highly qualified. They have already taken up training and will start answering real suicide emergency calls in some weeks time.

Execution

We put a “Zelfmoordlijn” branded phone in a public place for one day. Every time the phone rang, it became clear that there was a person looking for help. The sound of the phone got under one’s skin. The ringing was hard to ignore and we felt the discomfort of the people around. After all, it takes a special kind of person to work at Zelfmoordlijn. Luckily, several passers-by felt worried enough to pick up the phone. The experiment was never intended to be sensational. It was about raising awareness in a respectful way and encouraging candidate-volunteers to submit their details on a dedicated landing page. To leverage the effect, we filmed the experiment, edited it in the same spirit and launched the video 2 days before the World Suicide Prevention Day on owned (social) media channels together with intensive online and offline PR outreach.

The Situation

In Flanders (Belgium), 3 people commit suicide and 28 people attempt suicide every day. Suicide is one of the most common causes of death for adults aged between 20 and 49 years old. In 2011, more than 1,150 Flemish people took their own lives. Every suicide committed is one too many, and this is why the volunteers of the Zelfmoordlijn (‘suicide prevention hotline’) fully concentrate on reducing this number.

The Strategy

Answering a call from someone with suicidal thoughts is not something everyone can do or feels comfortable doing. Therefore, we designed an experiment that preselects people who already have a good sense of community. We filmed the experiment, because we wanted the viewers of the film to go through the same emotional experience as passers-by. The experiment had to work off- and online, and not only needed to trigger attention from passers-by or viewers. Most importantly, it should convince the right people to volunteer.