A new Kids Help Phone (KHP) campaign draws from the real messages it hears daily from youth to expand on what it means to offer “help.”

With creative by McCann, KHP describes the “Feel Out Loud” campaign as the organization’s “largest and most ambitious” marketing effort this year, activated across a broader range of channels than ever before.

With messages like “Kids Can You Help Me Feel Better? Phone” and “Kids I Got Kicked Out Phone,” the work was launched last month across social platforms, OOH and linear TV. The creative was powered by new insights from more than 50 million real-time, real-language and geo-tagged data points collected from every interaction with youth who reach out to Kids Help Phone.

“We are witnessing a mental health crisis among youth in Canada,” says Alisa Simon, group head and EVP of e-mental health transformation and clinical services at Kids Help Phone. “And yet we’re also seeing something powerful – young people turning to us when they feel like no one else will understand. ‘Feel Out Loud’ gives voice to those experiences, and calls on all adults to help us meet this growing need.”

The data, which is aggregated and anonymized to protect privacy, is unique to Kids Help Phone, which since 1989 has been Canada’s only 24/7, free, confidential and multilingual helpline. According to Kids Help Phone data, calls about suicide among youth 13 and under have more than doubled over the past four years; conversations about sexual abuse increased by 28% between 2023 and 2024; and Black and Indigenous youth are accessing KHP’s services at a rate disproportionate to their population.

The campaign is rolling out in two phases: the first aims to garner support from adults, while the second – launching during back-to-school season – will shift focus to a younger audience. Epitaph Group handled the media plan for the campaign.

“This separation ensures that each audience receives communication that is relevant, resonant and action-oriented, while still reinforcing the same core brand narrative,” says Emily MacLaurin-King, VP group account director at McCann Canada.

Last September, KHP launched the “No Lonely Lunches” campaign that placed the charity’s logo and phone number or packages of Cheestrings in an effort to help young Canadians dealing with lunchtime loneliness and social anxiety at school.

That campaign, developed by Broken Heart Love Affair, featured online and out-of-home advertising that featured stark illustrations of the challenges kids face at school.