Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young adults, and almost half of those who are struggling with their mental health never receive counseling or treatment. Young people know more about mental health now than ever before and it’s widespread in pop culture, yet people aren’t always starting a conversation and taking action when they notice a friend struggling.

Research shows that when friends do reach out, it can make a big difference. The problem is that talking about mental health is still really awkward for so many. So the Ad Council and their partners launched “Seize the Awkward,” an entire program with one goal: get young people talking by inspiring them to proactively start a conversation about mental health when they notice their friends struggling.

Knowing that young adults don’t want to be lectured to, we wanted to create something they would listen to—a hip-hop song. So for Mental Health Awareness Month, we launched “Whatever Gets You Talking,” featuring rapper Akinyemi. With catchy lyrics and a colorful animated and live-action music video, we packed 60 suggestions of how to reach out to a friend into just a couple of minutes. From chatting over pizza and sending GIFs to writing a letter, each one was a useful and a practical way to break the ice and initiate a conversation. It was an approach that was light, playful and completely different in tone to how society normally speaks about mental health. The song was used in TV commercials and radio spots and streamed on music platforms. It even featured big-name influencers our target loves such as Addison Rae and an appearance from pop artist Meghan Trainor.

The opportunity was to encourage friends to reach out in whichever way felt right for them. Our strategy was to give them different ways to open up because it helps to have an icebreaker when you want to start talking.

We looked at the ways they were already communicating with each other socially through media and across different spaces. We then used this research to come up with ideas for reaching out more often and in more ways. When it came to media behaviors, we noticed young people were significantly more likely to be heavy music streamers and following all kinds of content creators. These insights informed a music video filled with a variety of actionable examples for how to reach out to a friend in need. From sending a GIF to writing a letter, there’s no right or wrong way to reach out, it’s just whatever gets you talking.

Through a simple combination of a catchy song and music video, we equipped young adults with the ability to take action by showcasing the variety of ways they can have conversations about mental health. We partnered with the influencers and musicians from Addison Rae to Meghan Trainor to gain broader reach of our message. The music video, “Whatever Gets You Talking,” debuted during the 2020 Graduate Together TV program, and aired on TV, online video and social, with audio ad components that ran across streaming platforms and on radio. In addition, we placed our song on all platforms where music is consumed—Spotify, Apple Music, TikTok—and partnered with Genius to house the official lyrics. To maintain support for the campaign year round, we identified stressful moments for our target and developed a strategy for a consistent drumbeat and recommended moments to heavy-up support.

Our campaign gave young people the ability to reach out, and they took action:

73% of young adults said they had reached out to a struggling friend in the past six months after seeing the campaign

12-point lift in talking to a friend about mental health among those that saw the campaign

25-point lift in visiting a website to learn about reaching out

22-point lift in contacting a hotline to learn how to support a friend (Ipsos 1Q’21)

From 1Q’20 to 1Q’21, there was a 12-point lift in pre- to post-campaign awareness (59%). As of March 2021, tagline awareness reached our highest level, with an eight-point increase since 1Q’20 at 23%. Campaign news coverage garnered a reach of 147M and media worth of $1.4M. Our music video has been watched over 8.8M times. Overall the campaign received 1.1B impressions.