So…where do we go from here? Firstly, GREAT meeting tonight – thank you so much for your open exchange of ideas. Special thanks to Pete and Brita from Miko productions and Laurence and Ryan from AChannel for joining us and advising us throughout the process. Your guidance was soooooo helpful!
Would like to summarize and present back to you the ideas that seemed to have the most traction tonight during our very productive meeting!
We seemed to all agree that the following ideas/themes and components should be represented in some way in both the PSAs and the poster:
- Real people/real faces and not representations, need to be depicted
- The underlying feeling should be hopeful
- The focus should be on how to engage your friend in an authentic relationship…how to ‘get real’ with those around you
- Get Real participants from London and surrounding areas are very EAGER to participate in the PSA
- You liked the idea of using black and white colour schemes that evolve into bursts of colour
What Erin and I thought was really interesting about your process during our meeting, is that you combined a bunch of ideas together. For instance, you took Camila’s idea about ‘a face in the crowd’ and the use of black and white to colour schemes with Stephanie’s Help Wanted idea. In addition, Brandon’s underlying message of “having a meaningful conversation with your friend’ overlapped with so many of the other ideas that were presented tonight.
You were building on each other’s ideas, which is always a collaborative and effective way to arrive to something that we can all buy into. Congrats!
So…again…where do we go from here?
Here are some of the ideas that were thrown around. Let’s review.
- A crowd of young people together…all of them with their backs to the camera….all wearing black shirts and jeans with the exception of some of them who are wearing colour. Those individuals turn around to face the camera…one by one. When they turn around you see that they are holding signs that describe a message or quote or quality in a friend who is willing and able to help. For instance, one might read, “ What’s going on? I know you’re not ‘fine’. What’s happening? I really want to know” “ You look sad. How can I help?”
These are just examples…I’m certain you could all come up with statements that will be familiar to others…things you might actually say to a friend who may be struggling and is having difficulty reaching out for help.
The caption at the end could read.
“Have a real conversation. Help a friend.” Or something consistent with the idea that inspired Get Real which is about encouraging young people to have authentic and real.
- The other idea that we discussed was playing on the Help Wanted idea. Again the camera is working through a crowd of folks who are holding up signs. The signs demonstrate a quality that they have that makes them a good source of support for those around them who are struggling. Things like “ Will listen carefully to what you’re saying” “Will not judge you or tell you to get over it”, “Really want to know how you’re feeling when I ask ” How are You?”
Etc. The end caption would read….Have a real conversation. Help a friend. This does not need to be our end message- just writing something that captures our goal in this campaign. The Help Wanted idea could also be easily executed in a poster format. The quotes on the signs could be incorporated into the ad as a checklist. - Another idea…the scene is shot in black and white…the images are moving fast across the scene…a young man is approached by many. They ask him how he is and he quickly responds, “I’m fine’ but no one waits or stops long enough to hear it or really pay attention. They ask’ How are you’…hey man, how are you doing’, another asks ‘What’s up?” in a casual, non committal kind of way. No one stops long enough to have an actual conversation . Everything moves quickly until someone stops and says, How are You? The young man responds with “Fine” But this time, the person says, “Are you sure? No, really…how are you” And at that moment the scene is colourized with bursts of colour. The caption reads or there is a voice over that says “ Have a real conversation. Help a friend.”
- And lastly, we wanted to incorporate an idea that was briefly discussed in our review tonight but has huge potential. We talked how important it is to capture real stories, real faces and personalizing the experience for the viewer. There are many of you who have been open about your own life experiences and struggles with mental health. We could quite simply place you in front of a white screen, along with one of your friends…and capture the two of you having a conversation about how your friend was helpful to you during a tough time. These will be unscripted but could capture real and compelling conversations. The focus will not be on disclosure…you will not be expected or encouraged to share what you were struggling with at the time…the focus will be on how your friend helped you….how your relationship changed during the tough time…how you got through it together. Wondering actually as I’m typing this, if this gives us the opportunity to create a series of little PSAs that could be broadcasted and also posted online.
Ok folks. There you have it. Please respond below and let us know what you’re thoughts are. Which one do you love and why and how can we expand the idea(s)! Please also share your ideas for the Help Wanted poster. Do you like it? How could that be executed effectively? It was one of the few poster ideas that people seemed to really like so I have a feeling we may need to go with that one. Not a bad idea if that’s the case!
Ok…write away!
ML and Erin
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