This year, the messaging for Bell Let’s Talk Day is all about around being mindful and helpful to what others might be going through across multiple scenarios.

The creative, running in advance of the annual Let’s Talk Day on Jan. 26, includes people offering one another emotional support in settings as varied as the home, the workplace, school, a group therapy session and even a martial arts gym where a sensei comforts a student.

https://youtu.be/qohRFPFOvnQ

According to Mary Deacon, chair of Bell Let’s Talk, with protracted lockdowns, finding ways to take care of one’s own mental health and to support others has been top of mind for many over the last two years of the pandemic, so part of the idea is showing the importance of keeping that support up, no matter where they are.

“We wanted to play on these universal themes,” Deacon says. “We brought different scenarios to light using the same concept, whether it’s keep listening or keep being there.”

https://youtu.be/aMatHQ-32oE

On Bell Let’s Talk Day, Bell donates 5 cents to Canadian mental health programs for every applicable text, local or long distance call, as well as tweet or TikTok video using #BellLetsTalk. Bell is also leveraging major social platforms to view the “countable” Bell Let’s Talk Day video, which debuts on the day and results in a further donation for every view, as does every use of the Bell Let’s Talk Facebook frame or Snapchat lens.

“Social is our greatest vehicle for sharing messages,” Deacon says. With that in mind, one change this year is producing creative that lends itself to cutdowns, compared with more standalone efforts previously.

Ad spend and mix, Deacon says, is largely in line with previous efforts, but now includes paid outreach through LinkedIn for the first time. As always, Bell Media will also feature special mental health content in English and French across its TV, radio and digital properties as part of the Bell Let’s Talk Day campaign. This year, however, instead of a primetime special on CTV, it will host a special Bell Let’s Talk Day episode of Etalk. It will also be pushing French documentaries Maman, pourquoi tu pleures? available on Crave, Canal Vie and Noovo.ca, and La santé mentale dans le sport professionnel on Noovo. The sports documentary will also be made available through RDS’ on-demand platforms at a later date

Famous friends of Bell Let’s Talk are again being invited to share their personal stories about living with mental illness including Olympian and Bell Let’s Talk founding spokesperson Clara Hughes, Étienne Boulay, Marie-Soleil Dion, Michael Landsberg, Howie Mandel, Michel Mpambara, Stefie Shock and Mary Walsh.

Lg2 did the creative, with Media Experts handling the buy.