Havas New York and Havas Lynx Team Up with United for Global Mental Health to Support ‘Speak Your Mind’, Leading Mental Health Movement
And, on average, countries spend less than 2% of their health budgets on mental health.
Only 38 countries globally have a national suicide prevention strategy. And, on average, countries spend less than 2% of their health budgets on mental health. Havas wants to change these statistics. Ahead of World Mental Health Day on October 10, Havas New York and Havas Lynx have teamed up for a creative campaign to amplify Speak Your Mind, a movement designed to drive greater government action around mental health awareness and education. At the heart of Speak Your Mind is a living logo that grows as people pledge their support of the campaign through an online voice petition. The goal is to create a global conversation on mental health by galvanizing stories from around the world and then amplifying it so governments hear that collective change is needed.
Speak Your Mind is a nationally driven, globally united grassroots program powered by United for Global Mental Health. The campaign allows and encourages people to literally speak out on mental health and pledge their support through 40-second messages designed to bring attention to what is still a taboo topic in many countries. The pledges are personalized voice recordings on why governments need to act on mental health, with 40 seconds serving as a nod to the World Health Organization (WHO) estimation that every 40 seconds someone dies by suicide. For each recording, the Speak Your Mind living logo expands. With this campaign, Havas and partners from 15 countries are imploring leaders to invest, empower and educate so everyone, everywhere has someone to turn to when they need support for their mental health. The goal is to secure one million petition “signatures” by way of audio and video recordings.
Havas has also developed a short film with mental health advocate Zak Williams that brings awareness to the need to end the silence around mental health in a powerful way. Speak Your Mind debuted the film during its launch at the September 23rd UN High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage, which included a historic commitment to improving mental health, establishing it as equally important to physical health for the first time.
“When a campaign’s message has the power to save lives, it makes our jobs as creatives even more important,” said Harry Bernstein, Chief Creative Officer of Havas New York. “Speak Your Mind presents a unique challenge because we’re incentivizing people to speak about something that is very personal to them but is also seen as taboo. By breaking the stigmas of mental health, our hope is to create a global conversation to let everyone know that it’s ok to speak up about something that affects the whole world, and amplify it so the government knows we need change.”
“Poor mental health has led to tremendous worldwide loss. In fact, more than three-quarters of people with mental health conditions in low- and middle-income countries receive no support at all,” added Elisha London, CEO of United for Global Mental Health. “It’s time to take action to ensure everyone can access support when and where they need it. This campaign is a creatively bold and brave way to listen to people up close and personal and help shape the future of what support looks like.”
Between now and October 10, more Speak Your Mind engagements will roll out, including influencer campaigns and activations.
About Havas Group
Havas is one of the world’s largest global communications groups. Founded in 1835 in Paris, the Group employs 20,000 people in more than 100 countries and operates through its three business units covering all communication activities. Havas Group integrated Vivendi in December 2017. Havas Group’s mission is to make a meaningful difference to brands, businesses and people. To better anticipate client needs, Havas has adopted a fully integrated model through its 60 Havas Villages around the world. In these Villages, creative, media and healthcare & wellness teams work together, ensuring agility and a seamless experience for clients. Further information about Havas Group is available on the company’s website: havasgroup.com
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