The Context

In the UK, 18 people die from suicide each day. CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) is a charity that runs free, confidential and anonymous helpline. We wanted to let people know that there is a service that offers help, advice and information to anyone who is struggling or in crisis. We needed to change people feeling isolate.

The Move

We had to perform a stunt that would effectively capture the attention of the people. Strictly Come Dancing star Shirley Ballas is a CALM ambassador and shares the same cause, raising awareness about the charity. She agreed to conquer her fear of heights and take it to the skies by completing the Skyathlon – a trio of daredevil challenges aimed at raising vital funds for the charity.

The Action

We developed and launched an earned media strategy which would lean on Shirley’s personal experience of suicide, following her brother’s passing and urge people to support Shirley and help her reach her target of £20K.

The campaign kicked off with a launch moment at the end of June announcing Skyathlon to media. This was then followed by a series of press releases and impactful video content, highlighting Skyathlon and CALM’s services during Skyathlon Week.

We led on a robust schedule of media interviews and broadcast appearances which centred on sharing Shirley’s story and heightening campaign messaging to drive donations. We managed the development of the media strategy, interview briefings, media relations and broadcast relations

The Impact

The campaign was a huge success and in just over a month, we secured 950+ pieces of coverage reaching 17BN people across broadcast, print and online outlets.

Shirley landed key messages across more than 300 broadcast outlets and 125 national newspapers including ITV’s This Morning and BBC Breakfast twice.

We also achieved 44 social posts across media outlet social media profiles, reaching over 59M consumers.

The campaign surpassed donation targets, with Shirley more than doubling her donation target of £20K to over £46K.