Uncommon and ITV Encourage Better Conversations with Disruptive Reminders in Powerful Print Campaign

This weekend, ITV and Uncommon interrupted Saturday Night Takeaway, which reached 5.2 million viewers, with the first ever text interview. The awkward and uncomfortable moment aimed to show the importance of having better quality conversations and marked the return of the broadcasters renowned mental health initiative Britain Get Talking, supported by charity partners Mind and YoungMinds.

To support Britain Get Talking’s important work further, Uncommon have created a beautiful print campaign. The execution follows the same sentiment of the text stunt moment: the better we talk, the better we feel. Reflecting the message that it’s not always about the number of conversations we have but increasing the quality of our conversations.

The executions pair clever copy with manipulated everyday objects; from a scrunched up receipt from yesterday’s food shop, an open cookbook, a folded up OS map and car parking tickets gathering dust in your glove compartment.

In and amongst these relatable items are hidden messages, encouraging better conversations in those everyday moments, which might not initially be used to have a more meaningful chat with a friend, partner or family member.

Nils Leonard, co-founder, Uncommon Creative Studio said: “The Britain get Talking campaign is the most recognised mental health campaign in the UK. A big part of this is down to how we have tried to always disrupt with our message, whether that’s stopping live television, doing a text only celebrity interview or press ads that look like the detritus of a day out rather than normal advertising. It’s easy to hide from the hard conversations, so the reminders to have them need to be surprising.”

Conversations can be hard but this work aims to show that even the simplest of activities, like cooking in the kitchen together or planning a long walk at the weekend, can go a long way in helping create the perfect time, space and opportunity to open up and talk to each other properly.

Britain Get Talking continues to be the UK’s most recognised mental health campaign.

Britain Get Talking originally launched in October 2019, by pausing Britain’s Got Talent to give people the time back to talk. The initiative launched as part of ITV’s ongoing objective to encourage 10 million people to take action and improve their mental or physical health by 2023. When the pandemic hit last year, ITV continuously ran campaigns around mental wellbeing and put Britain Get Talking back at the heart of the channel. Encouraging people at a time of physical isolation, to stay connected and keep talking — which was more important than ever, throughout the multiple lockdowns the UK faced.

Since Britain Get Talking re-launched in March 2020, 6.4 million people have made calls or sent texts to friends and family as a result of the campaign and last year the campaign also raised £1.4 million to support mental health charity helplines, including donations from the Department of Health and Social Care.