ITV campaign gets behind the National effort to Stay At Home

ITV will launch a series of on air messages urging viewers to ‘Stay at Home’ but ‘Stay in Touch’ in a new initiative endorsed by Public Health England.

As an extension of ITV’s award-winning Britain Get Talking campaign, which encourages people to stay connected, ITV is supporting the national Stay at Home effort by reminding the UK to stay at home to help curb the spread of COVID19.

The Stay At Home messaging, produced by ITV Creative, will go live across ITV’s linear and Video-on-Demand platforms from Friday 15th January, reaching up to 42 million viewers. The bumpers and continuity spots will feature throughout programming including The Masked Singer, The Voice UK, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and Finding Alice.

ITV’s latest Britain Get Talking campaign is geared around urging Britain to continue to check in on friends and those who might need it most, as a new year’s resolution. As with previous Britain Get Talking campaigns, it is supported by mental health charities Mind and YoungMinds.

Britain Get Talking was launched in 2019 by Ant and Dec during Britain’s Got Talent to encourage people to look after their mental health by staying connected. The campaign, supported by Mind, YoungMinds & SAMH, has become the UK’s most well-known mental health campaign. In March 2020, during the first lockdown, Britain Get Talking featured a campaign which saw over a hundred celebrities call on people to stay connected and keep talking whilst we stayed at home. 6.4 million people reached out, in 15 million calls and 27 million texts, as a result. In October 2020, Ant and Dec once again used their platform in Britain’s Got Talent, this time calling on the public to donate to support our mental health helplines with the Help Our Helplines campaign. Inspired by the campaign, the government donated £1million to fund mental health helplines.

Clare Phillips, Director of Social Purpose at ITV, said:

“Staying at home is critical for our physical health in stopping the spread of Coronavirus, but staying in touch during lockdown is essential for our mental health. This campaign will use ITV's platforms to reach millions in supporting the national effort to stay at home and remind people of the importance of staying connected.”

Paul Farmer, CEO of Mind, said:

"It's so important that we keep prioritising our mental health while we all stay at home. This campaign is a vital reminder that staying at home, and staying connected, couldn't be more important right now.”

Credits:

Graphics: ITV Creative

Campaign name: Britain Get Talking

Client: ITV

Creative studio: Uncommon Creative Studio