TALK MISCARRIAGE

TitleTALK MISCARRIAGE
BrandMISCARRIAGE ASSOCIATION
Product/ServiceTALK MISCARRIAGE
Category C01. Use of Radio & Audio as a Medium
Entrant MRM UK London, UNITED KINGDOM
Idea Creation MRM UK London, UNITED KINGDOM
Credits
Name Company Position
Nicky Bullard MRM Chairwoman & Chief Creative Officer
John Treacy MRM UK ECD
Sophie McGovern MRM Copywriter
Alex Prendergrast MRM Art Director
Sarah Tille MRM Senior Account Director
Tom Phillips MRM Head of Strategy
Ruth Bender Atik Miscarriage Association National Director
Ashwin Saddul Talk Radio Media Consultant
Ricky Freelove Talk Radio Content Editor

View Script

Write a short summary of what happens in the radio or audio work.

On June 20th 2021 – Father's Day, we rebranded Talk Radio to 'Talk Miscarriage' changing all their broadcast and digital assets to our new 'Talk Miscarriage' logo. We partnered with the station to create a specific one hour radio phone-in show at 3pm. Not just an ad, or a typical program sponsorship, an hour's worth of bespoke radio content. The program featured a panel of men from different backgrounds and representatives from the MA. Some of the men had been through the miscarriage experience several times. One of them had even experienced a miscarriage just days before coming on the show, a story that he bravely shared live on air. And it was this bravery and openness that encouraged more of the 'nearly Dads' from all over the country to call in and share their stories.

Translation. Provide a full English translation of any audio.

Audio is in English.

Cultural / Context information for the jury

There's an untold piece of the miscarriage story. The effect it has on men – the 'nearly Dads'. The Miscarriage Association has resources to help, but has often found men reluctant to talk about their feelings around miscarriage. Many suffer from anxiety or depression but don't feel they should: 'I'm not the one who lost the baby, so what right do I have to be taking up her emotional bandwidth with my issues?' Their silence can cause significant tensions in their relationships and impact negatively on their mental health. The MA wanted men to feel able to shatter this silence.

Please outline the innovative elements of the work

The shocking fact is suicide is the biggest killer of men under 45, and men's inability to talk about their issues is a massive contributing factor to this. So, getting men to talk about their feelings is hard, but when it's an emotionally complicated issue like miscarriage, getting them to open up is even harder. We knew we had to do something dramatic to get the ‘nearly Dads’ attention. By rebranding the entire station (a first for Talk Radio) and giving over the airwaves to our target audience in a completely unscripted way (also a first) we were able create a powerful call to action that gave the ‘nearly Dads’ a platform for the very first time.