When the pandemic began, Britain Get Talking was already the UK’s most recognised mental health campaign.

We planned to relaunch for #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek in 2020, but then Covid-19 hit. As the country went into lockdown, we had to do something sooner. With a turnaround of 6 days, we got Ant and Dec to record a special message on their last day in the studio, reminding people to keep talking airing to 9.5m viewers.

The alien concept of a national lockdown was looming and the pandemic was set to wreak havoc with the nation’s mental health. The creative idea ‘Apart. But Never Alone’ encouraged ITV to give over as much promotional media air-time as possible to the public – committing to broadcast messages from viewers, offering the nation a unified voice in impossible times.

ITV played 100’s of these audience messages as well as messages from celebrities and influencers such as Gordon Ramsay and many more. We created over 250 films in-house to play out on screen - continuing to encourage people to reach out and talk.

Across the 8 weeks, we rebranded the channel identity on TV, online and social as well as creating a series of animated ads that reflected short text conversations sharing moments of checking in and keeping in touch. We crafted print executions that ran in the papers.

On the 16th April we ran a special two minute ad, ‘Clap from our Carers’ directly after the NHS clap. It featured a clap back from the NHS thanking the nation for staying home and reminding them to keep talking.

We also engaged partners with Just Eat and TalkTalk, thanking unsung heroes keeping the nation fed and connected with bespoke films.

Britain Get Talking originally launched in October 2019, by pausing Britain’s Got Talent to give people the time back to talk. The initiative launched as part of ITV’s ongoing objective to encourage 10 million people to take action and improve their mental or physical health by 2023. When the pandemic hit last year, ITV continuously ran campaigns around mental wellbeing and put Britain Get Talking back at the heart of the channel. Encouraging people at a time of physical isolation, to stay connected and keep talking — which was more important than ever, throughout the multiple lockdowns the UK faced.

We once again picked the biggest talent, the biggest shows and the most disruptive approach to communicate our message. There was nothing token about it. And people appreciated that. Ultimately, ITV’s bravery in going all in, paid back.

Every Saturday we aired a 90 second celebration of all the public messages, again reminding people to keep talking. We also got over 110 celebrities to send out messages, from Ruth Davidson, Ed Balls and Jess Philips, to Gino and Fred, McFly, Jonathan Ross, Dermot O’Leary, Holly and Phil, Ed Westwick, the soaps and Love Island teams, and Sheila Hancock. All reminding people “Britain, get talking. Apart. But never alone.”

Over Easter weekend, we ran 170 messages over the four days, along with special contextual ads. We also launched a print campaign, prompting people to pick up the phone. Not just to their closest friends and family, but also the people they thought might need a chat.

On the 16th April we ran a special two minute ad, ‘Clap from our Carers’ directly after the NHS clap.

Print, channel identity and partnership bespoke films followed.

Since Britain Get Talking re-launched in March 2020, 6.4 million people have made calls or sent texts to friends and family as a result of the campaign and last year the campaign also raised £1.4 million to support mental health charity helplines, including donations from the Department of Health and Social.

According to new research from video ad tech company Unruly, ITV’s ‘Apart. But Never Alone’ was the most moving UK Coronavirus campaign. Meanwhile, ‘Clap From Our Carers’ measured as ad of the week by System1. They said, ‘the 2-minute film really hit the emotional spot for viewers, scoring an exceptional 5.2-Stars’. ‘Britain Get Talking’ is again the UK’s most salient mental health campaign.