In the wake of the 2020 mental-health crisis, Beyond Blue needed to make more people aware of their support services. Without any more money to spend. So we created new media channels to reach this audience on an ultra-personal level. Without spending an extra cent. We asked Aussies to update their Voicemail message and Out Of Office reply with messages directing people to Beyond Blue support. Turning these spaces into mini Beyond Blue media channels. The idea was taken up by everyday Aussies, celebrities, and corporate partners, driving increased PR attention and most importantly, more calls for support.

Beyond Blue delivers mental health and wellbeing support, with programs supporting depression, suicide, anxiety disorders. Our brief was to help raise awareness of Beyond Blue’s services in the context of the 2020 mental health crisis, and a covid-disrupted world where people find it harder to connect with friends. Success to be measured in web traffic, and support calls/engagements.

We created new media channels to reach this audience without spending extra budget. Using radio, social and an instructional website, we guided Aussies to use their Voicemail and OOO messages spaces to direct people to Beyond Blue support. These messages played off the media placements, demonstrating that Beyond Blue is always available for support in the moments you can’t connect with friends.

The dark side of Christmas break.

Our strategy was built on two pieces of data.

1. The rising volume of calls for help that Beyond Blue deals with over the Christmas period. Demand for services increases by 20% every year

2. The Millions of Australians forced to take annual leave at Christmas. The result - a huge cohort of people away from their contactable devices; phones, emails, and computers.

Audience and approach

To be successful we needed to:

1. Recruit a large army of sympathetic supporters to dedicate their message space 2. Generate PR and earned media awareness for the campaign message

3. And most importantly, help people who are suffering from mental health challenges find the support they need

Call to action

For the army - update your voicemail with a message

For those in need - there’s always someone you can talk to at Beyond Blue.

The campaign used personal message spaces as media channels - so our work ran on the Voicemail and OOO messages of everyday Aussies and big Australian companies. The campaign launched in December just before the festive season - one of the biggest times of the year for mental health issues. The campaign ran on social channels, radio and direct to company emails.

1.9 million impressions

Cumulative reach of + 500,000

Double the website average of return users

Increases call volumes

Increased social mentions