BOYS DO CRY

Short List
TitleBOYS DO CRY
BrandGOTCHA4LIFE FOUNDATION
Product / ServiceN/A
EntrantTHE HALLWAY Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Idea Creation THE HALLWAY Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Media Placement INITIATIVE Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Production GOOD OIL Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Production 2 UNCANNY VALLEY Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Post Production UNCANNY VALLEY Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Post Production 2 MIGHTY SOUND Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Post Production 3 ARC EDIT Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Additional Company UNLTD Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Additional Company 2 GOTCHA4LIFE FOUNDATION LTD Manly, AUSTRALIA
Additional Company 3 HEIRESS FILMS Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Additional Company 4 HANNAH WATKINS PUBLICITY Waverley, AUSTRALIA

Credits

Name Company Position
Simon Lee The Hallway Executive Creative Director/Copywriter
Aldo Ferretto The Hallway Creative Director/Art Director
Tim Wood Freelance Copywriter
Iain MacMillan Freelance Art Director
Dallas Woods Freelance Copywriter & Singer
Tim Mottau The Hallway Head of Strategy
Chris Murphy The Hallway Account Director
Carolyn Starkey The Hallway Film Producer
Michael Wilson The Hallway Producer
Mat Rawnsley The Hallway Comms Strategist
Jules Hall The Hallway CEO
Gus Worland GOTCHA4LIFE FOUNDATION Client
Savannah Fielder GOTCHA4LIFE FOUNDATION Client
Tom Campbell Good Oil Director
Catherine Warner Good Oil Producer
Sam Long Good Oil Executive Producer
Sam Chiplin Good Oil DoP
Cameron Bruce Good Oil Musical Director/Arranger
Charlton Hill Uncanny Valley Music Supervision
Justin Shave Uncanny Valley Music Producer
Matt Perrott Mighty Sound Audio Post
Phoebe Taylor Arc Edit Editor
Olivier Fontena Arc Edit Colourist
Jennifer Cummins Heiress Films Executive Producer
Jackie Turnure Heiress Films Impact Producer
Hannah Watkins Heiress Films Publicist
Elle Williams Heiress Films Website Designer/Developer
Harrison Lochtenberg Heiress Films Impact Coordinator
Abbey Cummins Heiress Films Social Media Coordinator
Saarika Shah UnLtd Head of Industry Partnerships
Chris Freel UnLtd CEO
Rachel Troy UnLtd Chief Operating Officer
Jason Maggs Initiative Head of Initiative Impact & Senior Director of Strategy
Danielle Galipienzo Initiative Director, Client Advice & Management
Melissa Fienne Initiative CEO

Why is this work relevant for Integrated?

The Boys do Cry campaign is executed across a broad range of media: Online film, TVC, cinema, radio, Out of Home and online advertising. Every execution in the campaign is conceived specifically for the medium/platform in which it appears.

Background

Australia is facing a “Mental Health Epidemic” and men in particular are doing it tough. Statistics show that 1 in 8 men will experience depression in their lifetime and 1 in 5 will suffer from anxiety. But men are notoriously reluctant to reach out for help and talk about their feelings when they’re struggling. Instead, they try to “man up” and keep their problems to themselves. The consequences of this are horrifying: every day in Australia an average of seven men take their own life. Suicide is in fact the leading cause of death in men aged 15 to 49, making male suicide Australia’s #1 public health problem. Our objective, in collaboration with mens mental fitness charity Gotcha4life, is to begin to make it normal for men to talk about what they’re going through and seek help when they need it. If we can achieve this, we will save lives.

Describe the creative idea

If men in Australia find it so hard to talk about their feelings and ask for help, it’s because our traditional narrative of masculinity says that men have to be strong, that men keep a stiff upper lip in the face of adversity, that they DON’T ask for help when they’re struggling, that they DON’T talk about their feelings, that Boys DON’T Cry. We set out to help free men from this suffocating and dangerous narrative by turning these DON’Ts into DO’s. In 1979, legendary band The Cure released their iconic single Boys Don’t Cry; in 2021 we transformed it into Boys Do Cry - an anthem to help stop male suicide.

Describe the strategy

It’s notoriously difficult to reach and hold the attention of young Aussie males, as they’re sceptical of marketing and tune out things they don’t want to hear. On top of this, we want them to do more than just passively observe. We want them to actively re-evaluate their perceptions and start a tough conversation about something that makes them uncomfortable – their own feelings and mental health. We knew we had to create a conversation that they wouldn’t just be responsive to, but felt compelled to carry on. Music is not just culture-shaping, it’s also one of the few places where men feel comfortable sharing their emotions. Using its conventions we created and filmed a song to carry our message, encouraging our audience to reach out and share it with one another in order to normalise and encourage help-seeking behaviour.

Describe the execution

With the blessing of Robert Smith and The Cure, we rewrote the lyrics, with indigenous Australian artist Dallas Woods contributing a rap inspired by his experiences with suicide in his community. We brought together a diverse group of men aged 12 to 75 representing Australia’s broad multicultural population to perform the song, and created a 3:48 minute music video that lands our campaign line: WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH, GET TALKING. The video launched on social channels, with PR outreach garnering airplay on national television. We took over radio adbreaks with a 3:20 minute audio version of the performance, and cut-down versions of the song and video are running as radio,TV and online ads. OOH, press and banner executions tackle the traditional “commandments” of masculinity head on, transforming age-old DONT’s into DOs. All driving to a website which provides tools for having potential life saving conversations.

List the results

In its first six weeks, the campaign has already struck a chord, not just in Australia but worldwide. Our earned media and social media reach is close to 65 million. But the most meaningful measure of success for this campaign is whether it prompts men to get talking so they never reach the stage where they see suicide as the only solution to end their suffering. It’s going to take time to bring about this vital cultural and behavioural change, but an academic study of the Boys do Cry campaign conducted by the University of Melbourne’s Centre for Mental Health provides a clear indication that the campaign has the power to shift the dial. Preliminary findings of the study, carried out with 500 men aged 18 to 87 show that those who watched the Boys do Cry video had increased intentions to seek help for mental health difficulties.

Links

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