Member Article

Birmingham creative agency hired to shape Midlands-wide mental health at work campaign

A creative agency in Birmingham has won a contract to shape a campaign to improve mental health in workplaces all over the Midlands.

Big Cat Agency, based in the Jewellery Quarter, has been appointed by the Mental Health and Productivity Pilot (MHPP) to help create a new campaign which will influence employers in the Midlands to improve the mental health and productivity of their staff, and to encourage employees to stay healthy too.

MHPP, funded by Midlands Engine and led by Coventry University, aims to support employers across the wider region to improve the mental health of their workforce and boost their bottom line at the same time, with no financial cost.

Big Cat, which has several healthcare clients on its books, was selected by MHPP in part because of its focus on behavioural science techniques to fine-tune its creative campaigns depending on their audiences.

It is currently working to develop and test potential campaign concepts with the help of MHPP’s Campaign Advisory Group – made up of 10 employers in various sectors across the Midlands, and a group of people who have personal experience of mental health conditions.

Linguistics experts at the University of Birmingham will also help to fine-tune the campaign before a planned launch in June.

Anthony Tattum, founder and CEO of Big Cat Agency, said: “Often when you work on a campaign with a client, you’re not the intended target audience. But in this case, we are. “Helping companies improve the mental health of their staff isn’t just important from a health and wellbeing point of view, it’s important from an economic point of view too.

“As an employer myself, I want to make sure my employees are happy, healthy, and working as well as they can be. MHPP is making that easier to achieve for Midlands firms, so it’s fantastic to be working on the initiative. “The challenge for us is to create a campaign for MHPP that resonates with staff, line managers, employers and business leaders alike, and results in a change in attitude or behaviour.

“We’re looking forward to unveiling our campaign in June and helping make a positive difference to mental health and productivity in workplaces all over the Midlands.”

Caroline Geraghty, Project Manager at MHPP, said: “Big Cat’s clear understanding of our goals and its scientific approach to campaign creation made them the ideal creative agency for us to work with.

“Before the full launch in June, we’re working closely with Anthony and the team to ensure we’re developing a campaign which really reflects the challenges faced by employers and employees across the region.

“We’re confident Big Cat’s campaign will allow us to reach a wide range of Midlands employers and encourage them to make positive steps to improve staff mental health and wellbeing in their workplaces.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Matt Joyce .