Vinnie Jones Delivers Rousing Team Talk in Three UK's Mental Health Campaign

Today, Three UK, in collaboration with Chelsea F.C. and Samaritans, has launched its second ‘Talk More Than Football’ major mental health campaign, which encourages football fans to ‘talk more’ with one another. 

Hollywood hardman Vinnie Jones leads the campaign developed by Wonderhood Studios and sees him deliver a rousing team talk to Chelsea men’s stars about the importance of talking about their mental health. Research conducted by Three UK* reveals over two-thirds (67%) of football fans have struggled with their mental health, whilst one in three has never spoken to anyone about it.

In the video, directed by Freddie Waters repped by Pulse Films, Chelsea F.C. players Cole Palmer, Nicolas Jackson, Robert Sanchez and Alfie Gilchrist look set to receive the ‘hair dryer treatment’ from the football legend. Instead, Vinnie candidly uses his own struggles to encourage them to reach out to others and ‘talk more than football’. The content draws inspiration from a motivational team talk and urges football fans of all ages to start conversations around wellbeing within their social and support networks.

The multi-channel campaign follows the launch of the initial campaign in April 2023. It includes a 60-second social video that will go live in the afternoon of the Chelsea vs Manchester United game on 4th April, and a two-and-a-half-minute TV advert featured on TNT on Thursday 4th April and Saturday 6th April and Sky Sports on Saturday 6th April and Sunday 7th April. 

Three’s research found that one in four (27%) fans said that seeing well-known people talk more regularly about mental health would help them do it too. A further two-thirds (65%) would like to know how to broach the subject and 62% would like a prompt to talk about it more regularly. Today’s #TalkMoreThanFootball ‘team talk’ serves as a passionate call to action for football fans to start conversations about mental health with friends or loved ones, whilst also offering practical tips on how they can do it.

Aislinn O’Connor, director of marketing at Three UK said, “With Vinnie Jones delivering a compelling team talk we want communities to use their shared passions, like football, to open up about mental health. The campaign is a unique collaboration bringing together our sponsorship and charity partners to deliver an important message to this audience that it helps to Talk More Than Football.”

Guy Hobbs, joint ECD at Wonderhood Studios, said, “While the UK loves chatting football, we could make a huge difference to our mental health by taking a minute to talk about something more. In our second iteration of the Talk More Than Football campaign, with the legend that is Vinnie Jones, we hope to be able to continue to change the narrative and get sports fans up and down the country to follow in Vinnie’s footsteps and look out for each other, listen to each other and help save lives.”

*Based on research commissioned by Three UK and conducted by 3Gem between 19 - 21st February 2024 to 2,000 UK football fans.