adam&eveDDB on Putting “Suicide on the National Agenda” with CALM
This month saw 6,929 birthday balloons flood London’s Westfield as part of the launch of ‘Missed Birthdays’, the latest initiative by adam&eveDDB in collaboration with Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) and ITV. The campaign aims to address the rising issue of youth suicide, which is now the leading cause of death for people under 34 in the UK. Alarmingly, women under 24 are the fastest-growing group at risk.
The ‘Missed Birthdays’’ centerpiece was the striking installation at Westfield London, running from September 9th to 11th, coinciding with World Suicide Prevention Day on September 10th. Each of the thousands of balloons represents a young person who has died by suicide in the past decade. This poignant display aims to spark a nationwide conversation about youth suicide.
Visitors had the chance to listen to voice notes from loved ones who have lost young people to suicide, sharing memories and their hopes for the campaign. The project is supported by strategic media partnerships, ensuring widespread coverage across press, digital, and out-of-home channels. TV and radio segments are planned for later in the year.
The campaign also includes a press and out-of-home component, highlighting stories of young people lost to suicide. Various media outlets are backing the cause with targeted messaging. To support trusted adults in preventing youth suicide, the campaign directs them to the CALM C.A.R.E. kit, a resource offering practical tools and guidance.
Through ‘Missed Birthdays’, CALM and ITV aimed to once again unite the public in tackling youth suicide and empower adults to protect young lives. Today, adam&eveDDB tell LBB’s Zoe Antonov about the importance of the location they picked, the complicated process of collecting voice notes from families and loved ones, and what the future of ‘Missed Birthdays’ holds.
LBB> This isn’t the first time you've worked with CALM and 'Missed Birthdays' comes as part of a larger campaign working towards suicide prevention. How does this instalment fit with the rest and how is it different?
adam&eveDDB> For CALM, ‘standout’ isn’t just a buzzword; it’s the standard by which all creative work is measured. For us, every idea for CALM needs to be incendiary. It needs to stop people in their tracks and punch above its weight in earned media and attention. In that sense, ‘Missed Birthdays’ feels at home alongside our previous work, ‘The Last Photo’ and ‘Project84’.
And like these campaigns, the ambition behind ‘Missed Birthdays’ was to put suicide on the national agenda in an unignorable way, except this time, the conversation was squarely focussed on the tragic and unacceptable scale of youth suicide.
‘Missed Birthdays’ also differs in what we were asking people to do. We weren’t asking people to donate or sign a petition, but to simply read CALM’s CARE kit – a suite of resources available for any trusted adult, so that they feel better equipped to support the young people in their life.
LBB> Was there a particular piece of research that spurred this and how did you come about it?
adam&eveDDB> The alarming rise of young lives lost to suicide was the backbone of this project from the very beginning. There are a few sobering statistics that have stayed close to us the entire time. Namely, that:
Suicide has become the leading cause of death for 15-34-year-olds in the UK,
And tragically, 6,929 young adults have taken their own lives over the past decade – a number we arrived at based on datasets pulled from ONS, NISR and NRS.
Part of the creative challenge was figuring out how we would present this statistic to the public in a way that would not only outrage and confront people, but also allow them to feel the heavy weight of what this tragic number actually represented; 6,929 young lives taken
too soon.
LBB> Why balloons? How did the creation of the installation go, and why did you also choose Westfield for it?
adam&eveDDB> We wanted to create a spectacle that would draw people in. A spectacle that on first viewing would look like a beautiful and colourful celebration, only to then deliver a punch to the gut when the truth behind the installation was revealed. Balloons were the perfect object to do this.
They’re celebratory by nature, beautiful, bright and full of life, but most importantly they depict the heartbreaking age of which each young person didn’t reach.
Westfield was not only an ideal space to showcase our installation in an arresting and impactful way, it’s also Europe's largest shopping centre. Meaning guaranteed footfall. ‘Missed Birthdays’ would be seen by a huge number of people. Importantly, it was also the right space to connect with our key audience of trusted adults, who are essentially any adult (from parents, other family members, to coaches and teachers) who have a role to play in supporting and nurturing young people.
LBB> Visitors to the installation are also given the opportunity to hear voice notes from loved ones who have lost a young person to suicide. How did you make this possible and how long did it take to collect these voice notes?
adam&eveDDB> The family outreach was a lengthy and comprehensive process, handled with extreme care. CALM were able to lean on their database and reach out to families which they knew matched the statistics for ‘Missed Birthdays’. Additionally, Six Minutes, a custom casting agency, expanded the outreach effort by engaging a wider audience through online platforms.
Once families were onboard we sought the help of Self Space to ensure families had the mental health support needed to be involved in the project.
The collection of voice notes was a quick process as all families recorded at home using their own devices. We aimed to capture genuine emotions, and as a result, only minimal editing was required at the sound studio, maintaining the authenticity of the messages.
LBB> The topic is extremely difficult. How did you manage to deliver the stories of the people who have lost their lives to suicide in a respectful manner, but also create something that people who haven't experienced this first hand can resonate with immediately? Was this a difficult balance to strike?
adam&eveDDB> Our idea needed to confront people and command attention. But once we had their attention, we also needed to recognise when the best thing we could do was simply get out of the way. The last thing we wanted was to have our creative dilute, soften or misrepresent the lived experience and words of parents, friends and family who bravely and generously contributed to the campaign and told their stories. Our creative idea created the platform, but that platform was entirely for CALM and families to use in their own words.
Beyond telling the story of the young person they lost, each participant was asked what they hoped to achieve in being part of the campaign. We strongly believe that these words are endlessly more moving and more impactful when heard from the person they came from.
LBB> Tell me about the OOH element that comes along with this?
adam&eveDDB> As part of the wider campaign, we created seven posters to run across OOH, each featuring a single balloon. Each poster tells the individual story of a young person who tragically died to suicide, the balloon representing the birthday they never reached. Similar to the installation, the OOH was intended to be subversive; drawing the viewer in with a bright, colourful and celebratory balloon, before confronting them with what that balloon actually represents.
Like every other touchpoint of the campaign, each OOH asset directs to CALM’s C.A.R.E kit, so that whichever way you encountered the campaign, you would be left understanding that there are tangible steps we can all take to be there for young people and help end youth suicide for good.
LBB> What lies ahead for the campaign?
adam&eveDDB> Over the coming months, we’ll be releasing a film component of the campaign, to sustain the conversation around youth suicide and continue to help everybody realise they have a part to play in ending youth suicide for good.
LBB> Any final thoughts?
adam&eveDDB> There is no greater responsibility and privilege than what we do for CALM. We hope anybody who engages with this campaign is motivated to visit CALM and read the C.A.R.E kit to understand they can protect and be there for the young people in their lives.
