TMW creates suicide awareness pack

Digital and direct agency TMW is to run a hard hitting campaign to raise awareness of male suicide.

The direct marketing campaign will target 100 CEOs, or organization heads, that have a high investment in young men aged between 15 and 35. Each will be sent an emotive pack in the form of a hand-addressed jiffy bag with ‘Strictly Confidential – Personal Effects’ handwritten in the corner of the envelope. This is based on the personal effects that a suicide victim might leave in their locker or desk, or items found in their pockets.

The charity behind the campaign – Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) – is hoping the idea will pull at the heartstrings of CEOs as they open the kind of package that families of a victim could receive and that a colleague might have had to put together in the event of a suicide.

Included in the pack will be information about the campaign, plus a request for £100 – all monies will be used to establish a live text and web chat service to offer potentially suicidal men an easy place to turn for help.

Data from the last recession shows stark increases in the suicide rates among young men, in particular. The construction and security industries, which are currently under increasing pressure, will be the principal targets for this year’s campaign.

Laura Bell, account executive at TMW, said the campaign had to be “attention-grabbing” and “direct”, given that CEOs were the target.

The new direct marketing pack is part of CALM’s 500/100 appeal, which aims to get 500 companies to donate £100 in return for their logo being featured on a t-shirt. The t-shirt will be used in an attempt to break the world record for the most t-shirts worn at once by one person.

TMW, part of the Creston group, is offering its services for free – it was also involved in last year’s campaign.

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