Compelling Childline Campaign Asks Children to Reach Out for Any Reason

Independent creative agency The Public House have launched a compelling campaign for Childline across social platforms and print. This ‘Reach Out For Any Reason’ campaign is tasked with changing existing perceptions of what Childline is and the services they offer.  

Childline, part of ISPCC, provides a wide-range of services including the 24x7 support line which can be contacted online or by phone, digital mental health and wellbeing programmes, therapeutic supports and much more. 

Research conducted for this campaign highlighted the alarming reality of young people’s mental health issues in Ireland, which was massively impacted during covid-19. Research from ESRI classified 40% of young men and 55% of young women as depressed, up from 22% and 31% respectively just two years prior. 

In primary research conducted for the campaign, the insight that young people deemed their issues not serious enough and too trivial to contact Childline about cropped up time and again. 

The campaign was therefore designed to highlight the many reasons children and young people contact Childline's 24-hour support service currently. By 'unveiling' these  conversations, other children and young people can get a sense of the breadth of reasons to contact Childline, such as friendship worries, anxiety, loss, loneliness, bullying, identity and feeling down to mention a few. Children and young people don't have to have a particular reason, no matter what is on their mind or what they may be going through, Childline is there unconditionally for them. 

“For us, it was really important that our creative gave young people a sense of validation. So to do this we wanted our campaign to show a broad spectrum of reasons for contacting Childline - from the everyday challenges to the more profound struggles.” Paul Kinsella, art director at The Public House 

John Church ISPCC chief executive said, “The team at The Public House really understood our perception challenge. The work they have produced reflects how children and young people present themselves to our 24-hour support online at Childline.ie. A key aim of this  campaign is to ensure those who may be aware of Childline but might think that their worry or concern is not something serious enough to contact Childline get an insight into what other children and young people are speaking with us about. We hope that they take away that Childline is always here for every child and young person in Ireland for whatever reason.” 

Mikey Curran, associate creative director, The Public House said, “Children and young people in Ireland today face so many pressures it can be hard for them to figure out where to turn. Whether they’re concerned about something that happened at school, have fallen out with their friends, are experiencing stress, anxiety, abuse or identity issues, any and all of these issues are reasons to reach out and talk to Childline.” 

The campaign for The Public House continues a successful year with the growing independent creative agency’s clients include Jameson and EPIC: The Irish Emigration  Museum, FBD and Paddy Power. The agency is known for its strategic rigour and creative edge that delivers for its clients, with a principle that ‘Boring Doesn’t Sell’.