Add your voice – mindcheck.ca
As mentioned in my first blog post, I am deeply passionate about marketing for social good. Effective marketing has the ability to generate a lot of clout, communicate important messages to a large audience and more importantly, garner collective action from individuals. I encountered one campaign of such this weekend: mindcheck.ca
MindCheck is a website and a campaign that aims to raise awareness about mental distress, especially those experienced by young individuals. Unlike the traditional Kids Help Line or Youth Crisis Lines, MindCheck has its inspiration from a community hero: former Canucks player Rick Rypien who has battled depression and committed suicide this summer in his home in Alberta. Kevin Bieksa, to whom Rick first confided his difficulties, uses his influence as a Vancouver icon to promote this website, encouraging young individuals to seek help. Below is an interview of Kevin Bieksa speaking about the difficulties Rick faced.
From a marketing perspective, mindcheck.ca is very effective.
It stems from the story of a community hero who we can identify with and another fellow Canuck who has helped his friend battle mental distress first hand. These stories are altering the perception from the times when openly speaking of mental distress was a sign of weakness to demonstrating an encouraging and supportive environment.
It’s stylish website is designed with its target audience in mind.
On it’s front page is a photo of seemingly ordinary young individuals. When one puts a mouse pointer above these individuals, thought bubbles pop up (shown above) with mental distress-related thoughts of these individuals. Stylishly and in a subtle way, 37 RYP is incorporated and the graffiti asks a thought-provoking question of “ever wonder”. The website is not text heavy nor overbearing, keeping the barrier for individuals to use this website relatively low.
Finally, social media has been used effectively in this program. Clicking on 37 RYP on the front page will link individuals to a tool where users can record their own video messages to post on Facebook and Twitter about their pledge to combat mental illnesses. Here’s mine! http://mindcheck.ca/inonevoice?vid=425
All in all, by making this my blog post for my assignment, I hope you can spread the word about this important issue as well.