‘Small Talk Saves Lives’ behaviour change campaign

We all have the experience needed to help save a life. A small, simple intervention can disrupt suicidal thoughts. The Samaritans, with a wide range of partners including Network Rail, created a national awareness campaign that made people aware of this - Small Talk Saves Lives.

The ‘Small Talk Saves Lives’ behaviour change campaign has been run in four phases over the past three years. Each year, it requires a refreshed creative concept and strategy. Following a competitive pitch, Eleven was awarded the work to deliver the fifth phase of the campaign.

Eleven’s role was to extend the reach of this campaign by delivering concept development, copywriting, creative testing, motion and digital asset creation. Incorporating typographic visuals and a script that could be used across animation, audio and visual assets, Eleven created over 50 unique assets for digital and print. This included social media assets in Welsh and English, as well as bilingual versions.

The campaign attracted a significant amount of media attention, appearing in 144 different media outlets and radio stations – with a combined circulation of 28.5 million. To date, there have been over 23 million impressions across programmatic, radio, out of home, Spotify and social. As a result of seeing our creative, 85% of respondents felt more confident in knowing how to make an intervention. And according to a public perception tracker, 20% of all passengers were aware of the Small Talk Saves Lives campaign.