Truth N Loot
Kids Helpline
Issue 54 | March 2020
Agency
M&C Saatchi
Creative Team
Chief Creative Officer Cam Blackley Executive Creative Directors Mandie van der Merwe, Avish Gordhan Writers Michael Harris, Lucy Morgan Art Directors Neil Walshe, Nicole Yeoman Designer Alice Schofield
Production Team
Producers Loren August, Angela Byrnes
Other Credits
Strategists Bronwyn Galvin, Isabelle Zaccharia Account Team Vanessa Boueyres, Laura Jones, Kimberley Wright Account Team (Showdown Media) Nick Gorshenin, Annika Kemp, Kae McKenzie Client Client team Tracey Gillinder, Craig Scarr, Mark Anthony
Date
August 2019
Background
Kids Helpline, Australia’s only free, private and confidential 24/7 phone and online counselling service for young people, was witnessing a worrying spike in mental health issues amongst teens.
While teens were less likely to self-harm if they talked about their mental health before it became a big problem, the trouble was, they didn’t like talking about it.
So, instead of waiting for them to come to Kids Helpline, the idea was to go to where teens were already having conversations and show them it was okay to talk about mental health issues.
Idea
The idea was to game up with four gaming influencers to host “Truth n Loot” on live streaming platform Twitch, where gamers Naysy, Chanzes and Skill Up & Laymen spoke openly about their own experiences and troubles.
The special two-hour streams encouraged kids to start sharing their feelings and stories on the platform with the influencers, with Kids Helpline counsellors monitoring the chat and stepping in if needed.
Results
Over 26 million impressions across platforms with more than 6,000 unique chats in the live streams. 75% engaged in the live chat. 60% increase in web-traffic from males (vs 31% increase in females) on the days of the live streams.
Our Thoughts
Everything about this idea is a rejection of old-school advertising. Not because the team are being provocative but because this is the only way to reach and get through to this audience. They don’t just hate ads, they are skilful at avoiding them. That’s why influencer marketing is becoming increasingly important with specialist agencies popping up bringing brands and creators together.
The Goat Agency reckons that a brand story explained by an influencer is 277% more intense and 87% more memorable than a TV ad.
Yet again M&C Saatchi Sydney is ahead of the curve in adopting new ways of tackling the age-old problem of adolescent anxiety.