Adland Swimmers Complete 777km Challenge for Youth Mental Health Charity

Over 50 swimmers from the advertising industry have collectively swum 777 kms to raise funds for batyr, a preventative mental health charity for young people, by young people.

Together, the adland swimmers across NSW, VIC, QLD, SA and WA raised over $32,000 for batyr’s mission to create a world where all young people live mentally healthy and fulfilling lives. All the funds raised will go towards batyr’s life-changing preventative mental health programs in high schools and universities across the country.

UnLtd brought the industry swimmers together for a simple challenge -- to swim as many kilometers as possible during February 2025 for batyr’s Splash the Stigma campaign. 53 swimmers took part with Motio, NOVA Entertainment, Special Group, UM and Val Morgan Outdoor even signing up entire swim teams to take part in the annual challenge.

The teams raising the most funds were UnLtd QLD, Val Morgan Outdoor and NOVA Entertainment Melbourne. The winner for the longest distance swum by an individual was Ingrid Elgar from Scentre Group, exceeding an impressive 57km. The biggest fundraiser was Amanda Cooper from Val Morgan Outdoor, who single-handedly raised over $3.6K.

Emily Long, account director at UnLtd commented, "We love seeing the whole industry come together in February to swim, fundraise and drive awareness of batyr and their life-changing work. The industry continues to raise the bar with its support of Splash the Stigma, increasing its donations in 2025 to help deliver more preventative youth mental health programs in high schools and universities across Australia. A huge thanks to all the media agencies and owners that participated -- we couldn't do this without you."

The initiative was supported with pro-bono media inventory from ACM and NOVA Entertainment to help promote the annual Splash the Stigma challenge.

Jenya Holland, director of marketing and fundraising at batyr, said, “We are incredibly grateful to everyone who donned their Budgy Smugglers and joined us to Splash the Stigma! The support from the media industry has been truly invaluable. Thanks to the amazing fundraising efforts from the industry and our community, we will be able to deliver life-saving preventative mental health education programs to over 3163 students - helping them to take charge of their mental wellbeing early and often, and feel empowered to reach out when they need support. A huge thanks to everyone who jumped in the pool for us or donated!”