Ardmore Celebrates Multiple Award Wins

Ardmore has won three prestigious awards for three fantastic campaigns to help raise awareness of vital societal issues.

Creativepool Award for Network Rail's 'There is Always Hope' Campaign

Firstly in the Creativepool’s Annual 2021 awards, Ardmore were awarded bronze in the TV advertising category, and the People’s Choice for our work with Network Rail. ‘There is Always Hope’ was launched when research showed the significant rise in mental health issues across Britain because of the pandemic.

Suicide on the railway is not only a tragic loss of life. It also has a devastating impact on families, passengers, staff, and the wider society.

While some people may be in a dark place, they may not want to end their life, they want to end their pain. The campaign aimed to speak to people who are not actively asking for help, slow their decision-making process and provide them with the support required through the Hub of Hope app and encouraging them to realise There is Always Hope.

Find out how we created the advertising campaign.

Shark Awards Win for The Department of Justice Campaign

Then came one of the best-looking trophies in the cabinet, the coveted international Shark Award. Ardmore were delighted to win bronze in the Advertising Film category for its work with the Department of Justice for a campaign called Ending the Harm, which shows the real-world consequences of illegal money lending by Paramilitary gangs.

Illegal loans are often presented as a quick and easy fix. But, the reality is that this is a type of control that can destroy lives and keep communities down. Many victims live a life of dread, in constant fear, isolated, and facing physical and psychological abuse when they cannot repay what they are told they owe.

The goal was to shine a light on the real-world consequences of this plight on communities by telling the story of the devastating impact that money lending has on a person’s life and tackle head-on the lie that money lenders are here to help.

Learn more about the campaign from the advertising case study.

“It’s fantastic to win two global creative awards in a short space of two weeks. On top of that, we are immensely proud of the positive impact this work will have on people’s lives.” Paul Bowen, executive creative director. 

The Drum Social Media Award Win

Following on from the success of winning at the Sharks and Creativepool, Ardmore's work with the Samaritans was Highly Commended at The Drum Awards for Social Media.

There was stellar competition in the category from Twitter, Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity, Upwork, and we were pipped to the top prize 'by a whisker' by some baked beans on a Weetabix*. “The judges couldn’t bear to let it go without a special shout out” so we walked away with the Highly Commended campaign.

*really an excellent campaign by Frank PR.

Social Media Advertising for The Samaritans 

A recent report – A New and Better Normal – by the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People, interviewed 4,385 young people via surveys and focus groups. 41% of Primary seven respondents and 52% of 16-year-olds felt that their mental and emotional health had worsened during the pandemic and 46% of P7s and 70% of 16-year-olds felt that their education had been negatively affected. The Samaritans recognised that many in this particular age bracket might need support more than ever at this time.

The Samaritans needed a social strategy for their latest Children and Young People Campaign and Ardmore were delighted to work on such a worthy cause. Given the pandemic and consequent affects, many people have been struggling with their mental health and it was realised, that this particular audience needed support more than ever. The challenge was set, as this younger demographic are notoriously harder to reach. So, for this task, we had to think like a young person and look at their social behaviour.

Tactical, Innovative and Disruptive

Ardmore knew that the creative needed to be disruptive and innovative to really stand out and connect with the intended audience. Data from Kantar showed that social media use amongst all age groups increased dramatically, particularly TikTok during lockdown, so it was decided that social would be our primary media outlet. Along with Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, we also used TikTok to reach our younger target audience.

Up All Night

‘Up All Night’ ran for two bursts, targeting people aged 13-24 in Northern Ireland and was scheduled to run from 10pm – 6am. The logic behind this timescale was to capture the attention of the young people who struggle to sleep due to insomnia, anxiety of the pandemic or struggles of everyday life. To distract themselves from this, they turn to scrolling on social media to occupy their busy minds. This type of continuous scrolling can have a further detrimental impact on young people’s minds as they spiral into “doom-scrolling”, where they are simply reading negative news about lockdown or seeing other’s negative social posts.

Ardmore wanted this campaign to reach the young people at this low point to check in with them, so in turn they would check in with themselves.

You. Yes, You

The ‘You. Yes, you’ creative allowed us to implement a conversational theme. The campaign was delivered using an animated graphic that replicated a text message and included the sound of an incoming text. The text asked if the user was OK and reassured them that if needed to talk, there was someone available at Samaritans with a telephone number clearly displayed to call.

These graphics were accompanied with disruptive music that caught the user’s attention as they were scrolling.

The focal point was a simple message to at-risk and vulnerable people… that The Samaritans are there for you when you need to talk.

With a relatively small budget and tactical timescale, the ‘Up All Night’ campaign was a huge success for the charity achieving over 2.75 million impressions across the platforms in Northern Ireland with a population of 1.9 million. This was the Samaritan’s first TikTok campaign in Northern Ireland and it alone achieved over 800,000 impressions and almost 3,000 Swipe Ups.

The campaign helped raise the charity’s platform as well as engage with an audience that are more difficult to reach and to reassure them that there is support available whenever it is needed.

Ardmore shares a massive thank you to its friends at Samaritans for trusting the team with this work.