Leading online youth mental health organisation, ReachOut Australia, has partnered with Sydney-based creative agency Yonder to develop an innovative campaign to promote the new digital service ReachOut Parents.
Available 24 hours a day, ReachOut Parents provides parents of 12–18 year-olds with free evidence-based practical support and tips on a range of mental health and wellbeing issues like bullying, sex and communication.
Building on ReachOut’s 18-year history of supporting young people directly, the new service will help parents support their teenagers through everyday issues and tough times.
Yonder’s campaign uses teenagers to capture important, yet often unspoken, emotions between parents and teenagers with a series of contradictory statements like ‘I might tell you that I hate you but that doesn’t mean I don’t love you too.’
With support from industry and media partners including APN Outdoor, Avant Card, Convenience Advertising, ROVA Media and Starcom, the campaign will run across a mix of outdoor and online channels from July.
Yonder’s Creative Director, Julie Faktor said ‘The aim of the campaign is to inspire a reconnection between parents and teenagers. Being a teenager is tough, both for the young person and for their parents, and the language we use in this campaign seeks to remind parents that, despite all of the difficulties, there is still an underlying bond and a need for them to step in and help.’
‘Ensuring authenticity was one of our central challenges in developing this campaign. ReachOut is a trusted and authentic resource for young people, and we had to find a way to reach parents without alienating our traditional youth audience. We overcame this by using the voice of teenagers to communicate to their parents in a way that both parents and teens could relate to.’
ReachOut Director of Marketing and Communications, Ashley de Silva, said the campaign for parents is the first in a series of upcoming collaborations with Yonder.
‘All of the research kept pointing to communication and connection as key challenges for parents. They are looking for guidance to help navigate the teenage years – to keep a close relationship as their children begin to seek independence and to distinguish normal behaviour from something that might signal an issue. We wanted the campaign to inspire parents to feel empowered to act, rather than overwhelmed, and to know that ReachOut is a place they can access
non-judgemental support.’
Co-Creative Director, Benjamin Gay from Yonder said ‘Through the production of the campaign we found youth mental health is an issue that is close to many people’s hearts, and we were lucky to have so many talented people willing to get involved with the campaign for cost or less, including Photographer Max Doyle, Producer Chris Hemmings, Retoucher Paula Maloney, Composer Guy Gross and Editor Kit Baker.’
For interviews, images and further information please contact:
Leanne Budd, Communications Manager on 0457 505 342 or leanne@reachout.com
ReachOut is Australia’s leading online mental health organisation for young people, providing practical support to help them get through everything from everyday issues to tough times.
Since 1998, ReachOut has worked alongside young people to deliver online tools that address youth mental health and reduce youth suicide. An extension to ReachOut’s service for young people was launched in 2016 to help parents and carers improve the mental health and wellbeing of the young people within their family environment.
Available anytime and pretty much anywhere, ReachOut.com is accessed by 110,000 Australians each month. That’s more than 1.31 million people each year.
Yonder is an independent creative agency specialising in branding and communications.
Based in Surry Hills, Yonder’s client list includes brands such as DuluxGroup, Kiroro Resort, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Red Rooster, Oporto, Goodman Group and Australian Prawns.
Available 24 hours a day, ReachOut Parents provides parents of 12–18 year-olds with free evidence-based practical support and tips on a range of mental health and wellbeing issues like bullying, sex and communication.
Building on ReachOut’s 18-year history of supporting young people directly, the new service will help parents support their teenagers through everyday issues and tough times.
Yonder’s campaign uses teenagers to capture important, yet often unspoken, emotions between parents and teenagers with a series of contradictory statements like ‘I might tell you that I hate you but that doesn’t mean I don’t love you too.’
With support from industry and media partners including APN Outdoor, Avant Card, Convenience Advertising, ROVA Media and Starcom, the campaign will run across a mix of outdoor and online channels from July.
Yonder’s Creative Director, Julie Faktor said ‘The aim of the campaign is to inspire a reconnection between parents and teenagers. Being a teenager is tough, both for the young person and for their parents, and the language we use in this campaign seeks to remind parents that, despite all of the difficulties, there is still an underlying bond and a need for them to step in and help.’
‘Ensuring authenticity was one of our central challenges in developing this campaign. ReachOut is a trusted and authentic resource for young people, and we had to find a way to reach parents without alienating our traditional youth audience. We overcame this by using the voice of teenagers to communicate to their parents in a way that both parents and teens could relate to.’
ReachOut Director of Marketing and Communications, Ashley de Silva, said the campaign for parents is the first in a series of upcoming collaborations with Yonder.
‘All of the research kept pointing to communication and connection as key challenges for parents. They are looking for guidance to help navigate the teenage years – to keep a close relationship as their children begin to seek independence and to distinguish normal behaviour from something that might signal an issue. We wanted the campaign to inspire parents to feel empowered to act, rather than overwhelmed, and to know that ReachOut is a place they can access
non-judgemental support.’
Co-Creative Director, Benjamin Gay from Yonder said ‘Through the production of the campaign we found youth mental health is an issue that is close to many people’s hearts, and we were lucky to have so many talented people willing to get involved with the campaign for cost or less, including Photographer Max Doyle, Producer Chris Hemmings, Retoucher Paula Maloney, Composer Guy Gross and Editor Kit Baker.’
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Media enquiries
For interviews, images and further information please contact:
Leanne Budd, Communications Manager on 0457 505 342 or leanne@reachout.com
About ReachOut Australia
ReachOut is Australia’s leading online mental health organisation for young people, providing practical support to help them get through everything from everyday issues to tough times.
Since 1998, ReachOut has worked alongside young people to deliver online tools that address youth mental health and reduce youth suicide. An extension to ReachOut’s service for young people was launched in 2016 to help parents and carers improve the mental health and wellbeing of the young people within their family environment.
Available anytime and pretty much anywhere, ReachOut.com is accessed by 110,000 Australians each month. That’s more than 1.31 million people each year.
About Yonder
Yonder is an independent creative agency specialising in branding and communications.
Based in Surry Hills, Yonder’s client list includes brands such as DuluxGroup, Kiroro Resort, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Red Rooster, Oporto, Goodman Group and Australian Prawns.
