Helpline campaign speaks to HK teens with hidden pain

Ad Nut is a believer in the adage that one should be kinder than necessary, because everyone one meets is fighting some kind of battle*.

A recent Hong Kong campaign for a new helpline makes such struggles visible in an ingenious way: by showing a demonstrative little person hidden inside a person who seems implacable on the surface.

The 'I live inside myself' campaign, by Kymechow, promotes Open Up, a new text-based platform that aims to support young people who are experiencing emotional distress due to family issues, interpersonal relationships and academic stress. The campaign includes online and mobile ads, OOH work and the online film above.

Open Up, launched in October, is operated by Caritas Hong Kong, The Boys’ & Girls’ Clubs Association of Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups, and is sponsored by the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, with support by Hong Kong University Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention.

Ad Nut commends both the campaign and the Open Up service itself. Ad Nut has seen firsthand how powerful organisations like The Samaritans can be, simply by offering a non-judgemental ear to people who are feeling low. Open Up brings that power to the native environment of young people by offering it in text format. Yet importantly, it is staffed by real-life volunteers, because there's no substitute for human empathy (as we learned last year from a particularly callous and poorly executed effort by Samsung, which made Campaign's list of 2018's most disappointing campaigns).

CREDITS

Agency: Kymechow
Creative Director: Chris Kyme
Art directors: Cedric Cheung, Shuwa Tong
Copywriter: Jayden Wong, Flora Chow                                                                                       
Production company: Wowowtank

* Interesting side note: The quote Ad Nut references seems to be a mashup of JM Barrie and Ian Maclaren, although it is widely attributed to Plato, Socrates and others.

Ad Nut is a surprisingly literate woodland creature that for unknown reasons has an unhealthy obsession with advertising. Ad Nut gathers ads from all over Asia and the world for your viewing pleasure, because Ad Nut loves you. You can also check out Ad Nut's Advertising Hall of Fame, or read about Ad Nut's strange obsession with 'murderous beasts'.