Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young adults. 46% of young adults aged 18-25 with a serious mental illness do not receive counseling or treatment.

The good news—76% of young adults will turn to a peer in a time of crisis for support. That means the friends of those struggling can be incredibly influential in helping them get the help they need. Younger generations are ready to crack open the cultural conversation about mental health, but they’re missing the language and resources to do it.

In order to address this pressing issue, we launched Seize the Awkward with the objective to empower young adults to reach out to friends who may be struggling with mental health issues and may be at risk for suicide by encouraging vulnerability in friendships.

Seize the Awkward aims to empower young adults to start a conversation about mental health if they suspect a friend is struggling, even if it may feel uncomfortable or awkward at first.

We tell young musicians’ stories through honest and unscripted conversations set in a peaceful environment. Our videos highlight talents’ personal experiences with mental health – be it their own or a friend’s, words of encouragement to those who maybe be struggling or have friends in need, and how friends can play a role in providing support. The overall tone of the campaign and this creative is positive, encouraging and supportive. No need to be an expert; just be a friend!

Target audience: friends of young adults ages 16 to 24 struggling with mental health issues.

In conversations with young adults, we learned that friendships are everything to them. Yet talking about something so personal like mental health can still feel awkward or uncomfortable. We encourage them to lean into that feeling and reach out. By starting the conversation and sharing their own experience, they create a safe place for a friend to open up and start talking. When young adults are vulnerable with each other, it creates a powerful space of trust between them that leads to important mental health conversations and stronger friendships.

Given the age of our target audience, the campaign lives fully online. Popular musicians speak about their personal experience with mental health and how friends have supported them, giving young people the tools to change the culture of mental health one conversation at a time.

With notable musicians like Billie Eilish, Noah Cyrus, Lauv, Hayley Kiyoko, Lindsey Sterling, Amine and more speaking out about their mental health, we hoped to normalize the issue and encourage viewers to reach out to their friends to start their own conversations. We approached the sensitive topic of mental health with empathy and relatability to signal to young people that they too can start the conversation.

Beginning in May 2019 (Mental Health Awareness Month), each musicians’ personal story launched as a long-form YouTube video that was subsequently shared by campaign partners, the talent themselves and press including Rolling Stone, The Los Angeles Times, Paper Magazine, Buzzfeed and E! News. Additionally, 60 and 15-second cut downs were made for Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. When relevant, the videos included the talents’ music to enhance the personal connection for audiences.

Talent engagement for the campaign gained over 6.5 million video views, 27 million impressions, 695 thousand engagements, a reach of 13 million and received 46.6 thousand mentions on social channels.

All of this earned an estimated social media value of at least $5.1 million.

As a result, awareness of the Seize The Awkward campaign is at 49% among our target audience.