SITUATION

While some of us dare to imagine a world after COVID-19, 3 million NHS and frontline workers carry it with them every day. 2 in 5 NHS frontline staff are now suffering from PTSD. That’s double the rate found in military veterans with recent combat experience. One crisis has caused another.

THE BRAND'S CHALLENGE

Frontline19 is a charity set up in March 2020 to deliver free therapy to people working on the frontline. Any frontline worker can register to see a volunteer therapist anywhere in the country.

With only 2000 therapists and 3 million frontline workers to support, they needed help. They needed a stopgap that would give those struggling the help they needed while they were waiting for the full therapeutic service.

OBJECTIVE

Harness the nation's gratitude to provide frontline workers with the emotional support they need to carry on.

CREATIVE INTERPRTATION OF THE BUSINESS CHALLENGE

With initiatives like NHS rainbows and clap for carers, it was clear that the nation was desperate to help. But while those gestures were received with gratitude, there was no evidence that they helped frontline workers manage the symptoms of PTSD.

Our interpretation of the challenge became how to channel the nation's gratitude into something genuinely useful to those struggling on the frontline.

PLANNING APPROACH

We interviewed dozens of frontline workers and a team of PTSD specialist which led us to discover that vocal positive reinforcement plays a vital role in managing trauma.

While visual stimuli like rainbow symbols and applause are encouraging, hearing someone voice delivers far greater empathy to the listener.

OUR BREAKTHROUGH THOUGHT

Not all of us are therapists, but every one has a voice. We needed to give the country a way to share that voice with the people who need to hear it.

The execution features a number of real messages left by the British public on Hopeline19.