The Journal – Self Help Programme

Background

The solution was to build The Journal, a relationship marketing-style programme at www.depression.org.nz where people could learn to deal with the illness page by page.

Idea

Rugby legend John Kirwan, himself a sufferer, not only appeared in the TV commercial driving visitors to the site but also their guide through the six stages of dealing with depression.

Social marketing and e-therapy came together in a self-management programme which was a rich interactive experience designed to hold their attention with over 50 minutes of video footage.

At each step in the process, mental health experts explained the theory behind each of the tasks people who signed up were asked to perform.

A planning tool allowed them to set their own pace and personalised texts and emails reminded them of what they were meant to be doing.

Results

The campaign did an outstanding job at getting people to take action with:

• 76,000 visits in the first six weeks after launch
• 2,300% increase in traffic during the first TVC flight (June 6 to 26)
• 500% increase maintained between flights (June 27 to July 14)

4,485 people signed up for The Journal in the launch period. By comparison 700 people would visit their GP in the same period.

The engagement target was smashed with:

• 12:45 min per lesson visit
• 90 minutes total online engagement over the six lessons.

By adapting the industry standard PHQ9 test into The Journal, the team was able to directly compare results against traditional treatment with medication:

83% of people completing The Journal improved their score by more than 25%, on average going from ‘moderately severe’ to ‘mild’ levels of depression.

Our Thoughts

There’s a trend here, the desire of cash-strapped Governments to get more of their citizens to manage their own health problems.

How heartening to see the New Zealand Ministry of Health talking to an agency about getting people to help themselves rather than try to do it themselves.

DraftFCB have brought together all four of the creative ‘types’ to make this idea work, the artist, the scientist, the developer and the inventor. The old and the new in advertising under one roof.

How intriguing too to see the account man is also styled ‘MD Social Change’. His title in itself is a description of how advertising is changing. That said, what makes this work so well is the good old-fashioned idea of having a trusted and admired presenter, John Kirwan, and a simple platform of delivery, the journal.