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Jo Rixom from Status Employment came to Idea Shop about creating awareness of mental health issues in the workplace. Here’s what happened:

The organisation:

Status Employment are a charity providing employment support to individuals recovering from mental health conditions. 1 in 4 suffer from mental health issues, and yet it’s a massive taboo in the workplace.

The challenge:

Jo wanted to create awareness of mental health in the workplace but wasn’t sure how. She has a clear target of getting 101 people with mental health issues back into full employment in Lambeth.

Status Employment had already created leaflets which were distributed to private companies. Jo clearly cared a lot about the work she was doing but beyond the leaflet drop, couldn’t work out how to create more awareness.

The ideas:

It took quite a lot of in depth discussion, we wanted to understand what had been done before and what had and hadn’t worked. Firstly we looked at how to build on the existing leaflets. Adrien, an Art Director and one of the Ogilvy Idea Shop volunteers, explained how typography, colour and logos can be used differently to say different things. Then we came up with a some different designs directions that would support the aim of creating awareness of mental health in the workplace.

Then we explored ideas for awareness creating event.

First and foremost we want people to want to be involved in addressing the issues associated with Mental Health. 1 in 4 of us suffer from mental health problems. But it’s still a taboo subject. How can we encourage people to learn more?

We proposed organising an event in the Lambeth area. Ideas included inviting local artists from a college to paint well know celebrities who suffer from mental illness. This would challenge the preconceptions of mental health. For instance pictures of Stephen Fry and Winston Churchill – both mental health sufferers. The local element and the celebrity element would draw people in and start conversation about mental health. We discussed having a Q&A session at the event with people who live with mental health talking about their experiences in the workplace.

We then looked at research and how this could help Jo think of more ways to tackle her problem.

Adrien and I encouraged Jo to explore what approaches have been used to address the public’s approach to drugs, alcoholism, sexuality, racism about other taboo or once-taboo subjects – how have these been different? How effective where they? What made them stand out/work? What can Status Employment learn from them? With this knowledge, Jo would then have leverage with her team to try something different and new.

A six point strategy was then formed:

1) Create a ‘Big Ideal’ for Status Employment by finishing the sentence: ‘The world would be better if……. ‘ This Big Ideal will help make their aims more concrete and so more achieveable.

2) Research what has been done – review campaigns and learn about approaches – apply to that to the context of Status Employment and create assets that are true to their brand and their new way of thinking.

3) Hold an event to create publicity, start conversations and learn further from those affected and those attending.

4) After the event encourage discussion online using social media. Then conduct further strategic planning based on the learnings.
5) Repeat points 1 to 4 until objectives are met and progress is made – how have they changed? Developed?
6) Continue research and brand development. As confidence develops from point 1 to 5 encourage further PR and brand leveraging.

Jo said this simple approach of a 6 point plan really helped frame her thoughts. She said she was going to put it to good use. We believe that by looking at what other organisations had done successfully, Jo would understand there are many ways to skin a cat successfully. She’d be inspired and motivated to approach this awareness problem from a new viewpoint. Adrien and I are both looking forward to seeing how things develop.

Inspiration we suggested included:

Awareness Test: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahg6qcgoay4

Car Demonstration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvxGXSGuHbA&feature=related

Stop Smoking: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf3bsB-L8DU&feature=related

Kick homophobia out of football: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy7QqloN8Do

Don’t drink and drive: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQtTREndJKk

Binge drinking: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jftfU30xJg&feature=fvw

Stigma – depression: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64EWjvxqbYg

Posted by Nick Bennett, Account Manager at OgilvyOne

Macmillan Cancer Support visited the Idea Shop with a campaign brief outlining the need to raise awareness that people with rarer cancers should get fairer access to the drugs they need to prolong their lives. It’s a really important issue that the Idea Shop team were only too happy to help with.

The challenge:

The benefits of drugs to treat rarer cancers, while often hugely valued by patients, frequently prove non cost-effective under the NICE Technology Appraisal processes and aren’t widely available on the NHS as a result.

The campaign brief detailed a range of audiences that Macmillan Cancer Support intend to target including MPs, Health Thought Leaders, NICE, health correspondents, influential bloggers and the general public. The aim of the campaign is to generate national and regional coverage to raise awareness of the issue amongst the target audiences and encourage the public to get involved and write to their local MP / newspaper.

The solution:

We talked Macmillan through the need to pull together a detailed communications strategy setting clear guidelines on timing.  We recommended stretching the initial deadline to beyond May as the campaign would still be equally as effective working as a sustained campaign, rather than an immediate push before the general election when the media will be incredibly crowded with competing messages.

The Ogilvy team recommended splitting the target audiences into three distinct groups that each require different messaging and tailored approaches.

Ogilvy stressed the need for a case study in order to help people to engage with the story in a personal manner. An individual’s story would greatly assist the campaign in terms of the strength of the argument created for enabling fairer access to drugs.
We batted around a few ideas for ‘lines’ to promote the campaign, which we’ll keep under wraps for now.

Macmillan is currently very strong in terms of generating media headlines. Therefore we recommended focusing on amplifying current online activity – such as utilising the Facebook page and creating a Twitter stream purely for the campaign to raise awareness of the issues these people are facing. By utilising digital streams Macmillan can create a value exchange, enabling supporters to actively engage in the campaign and share their views in addition to spreading the word about the need for fairer access to drugs that treat rare cancers.
To that end we talked about initiating a “retweet campaign” to support the call to action to write to MPs or sign a petition.

Ogilvy talked about the importance of listening to what is currently being talked about online and then engaging in that conversation. Engaging influential bloggers is key to spreading online chatter and we recommended a listening exercise in order to help Macmillan identify relevant individuals.

We also talked about right and wrong ways to approach bloggers and active twitter users – think of it as a conversation you are joining, be respectful, earn your right to be there, then add your two cents, just as if you were joining a conversation down the pub or over the garden fence.

The chatter online will drive traffic to a dedicated part of the Macmillan Communities site where the call to action will be clearly stated, either in the form of a petition or a template letter.

Macmillan is keeping Idea Shop updated on their progress and we are fully behind the campaign.

Keep your eyes peeled for the latest coverage:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7189796/Terminally-ill-patients-being-penalised-by-Nice-for-having-rare-conditions.html

Get involved: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/macmillancancer http://community.macmillan.org.uk/whatsnew/default.aspx

Post by Sophie Gray, Ogilvy PR

The Brixton Pound is a local currency. It’s money that sticks to Brixton. Brixton Pound’s creators hope that it will encourage use of local businesses and produce as well as ensuring money that is spend in Brixton, stays in Brixton.

The challenges Brixton Pound faces are 1) Get more businesses to take B£ 2) Get consumers to “ask for their change in Brixton pounds”.

Before the brainstorm descended into a very interesting debate on economics, these are the ideas we had

1. B£ Bling jewelry design competition. (Think big blingy rings and pendants with the B£ sign, instead of a dollar sign)

2. A poster campaign with the line “A Brixton Pound is worth more than a pound” and this month’s offers – lots of the businesses who accept B£ have money off deals if you use the local currency. These posters would work best in on community noticeboards and the like.

3. Get community leaders involved – ask local vicars and religious leaders to ask for next week’s collection in Brixton Pounds, then distribute leaflets as people are leaving the service.

4. Get children involved in a “Ask for your pocket money in B£” campaign.

5. Make more of the brilliant B£ logo by improving the “B£ accepted here” window sticker – something round (pound shaped) with the dots and grooves of a pound around the outside would be more instantly recognisable and would stand out from other window stickers.

6. Make “I asked for my change in B£” stickers available at the cash register – if people can see that others have supported Brixton Pounds, they are more likely to do so as well.

7. Capitalise on the existing community support for B£ by creating t-shirts for people to wear – this allows you to use your supporters to spread the word. The B£ imagery and logo are really appealing and would create very desirable clothing.

8. Look at ideas for stalls you could set up at community events so you can have a presence there; the Windrush Square opening party later in Feb; Lambeth Country Show and Streatham Festival. This would be a great place to start the B£ Bling competition. Or to give away “Ask for your pocket money in B£” money boxes.

9. B£’s first birthday is coming up – there should be a party to celebrate. We discussed a few money related themes for this. Brixton Pound Bankers Ball, The B£ Stock Exchange and so on.

10. There’s an existing leaflet aimed at businesses and consumers. We recommended having one leaflet for businesses and one for consumers because they both need different information and will respond better to different kinds of communication. The exisiting leaflet lists all the places that except B£ by area. We suggested creating genre specific flyers – B£ Dinning, B£ Pubs, B£ Style and so on. These flyers can be leaf in restaurants, pub, fashion store etc, respectively.

11. Change dishes, bills, till stickers and menus are an ideal place to remind people to ask for their change in B£. We suggested creating materials for these points, including round pound shaped “Ask for your pocket money in B£” stickers to go in the bottom of change dishes in pubs, bars and restaurants.

Find out more about the Brixton Pound and where to get/spend yours here http://brixtonpound.org

Youth Worker and Consultation and Participation Officer Le N Ho had become frustrated with the negative perception of young people in contemporary society – particularly in her local borough of Newham; just next door to Idea Shop’s mother ship in Canary Wharf. After a submitting a winning application for a £3,500 grant to develop a community campaign, Le came to Idea Shop to see how to make the money work hardest.

Knowing that at the source of the misconception is a lack of understanding and awareness, Le had planned to run a series of workshops and develop a magazine to highlight the achievements of hard working young people. After discussing the benefits of intergenerational activities it became clear that in order for these to work the negative perceptions of young people must first be challenged. Rather than investing in the production of a single magazine, using newly affordable and flexible production services such as Newspaper Club would allow newspapers to be produced and distributed to a dispersed audience, especially one with varying access to the internet. Also collaborating with successful young people such as designers, photographers and writers would allow for co-creation and provide role models to draw other young people engaged with the project. By capitalising on the popularity of basic digital tools such as camera phones the idea of co-creation could be extended to the wider audience.

Successfully accessing and communicating to young people is a challenge major brands with multi-million pound budgets are struggling with, let alone individuals with money & time pressures. Involving young people themselves in the creation of the communications and activities will help draw in others and help further elevate success stories from local area – such its track record in providing successful sports professionals and cultural icons such as Jermaine Defoe and the late Alexander McQueen – eventually providing a reason for the wider community to reconsider their views.

Post by Keiran Bradshaw

We had an intense ideas session with “Steve and Steve” from the Merton and Lambeth Citizen Advice Bureau.
This Local Citizen Advice service provides free, independent and impartial and confidential advice to everyone within their community.

Currently they face a few challenges in a time of recession, namely the recruitment and engagement of more volunteers, giving an even better quality of service to Clients seeking advise on rights and responsibilities and the general awareness of what their services are all about.

Being a stand alone advice centre can be challenging with limited funds, so we suggested cost effective ways to get their messages out.

Once we started to focus on 3 key marketing channels namely PR, partnerships and social media networking, the ideas started to flow…
In order to reach a high number of people in the community CAB can partner up with local newspapers and address some key social issues in the form of a column. This will generate mass awareness and position them as a body that gives advice that makes a difference. Blogging is a very powerful medium where the community can engage and discuss on certains forums and CAB can facilitate these blogs on their own website. Another way to get mass exposure is to tap into events in the community and act as a partner or sponsorship. We explored multiple ways to maximize the web as a tool to engage with both Clients and volunteers. Lastly we thought about using more video content to expose CAB in a positive and real way to the community, as this will help inform the public about the projects handled and what kind of services CAB offer.

Ideashop will follow up with a few local contacts established over the 3 day session in Brixton and recommend CAB to partner with them and make sure that there will be some element of networking taking place to leverage one another’s profiles. Using partner companies will be key to CAB’s future success. www.mertoncab.org.uk: