Finland has one of the highest rates of suicide in Europe, with over 800 deaths recorded each year. The suicide rate among Finnish young people in particular is high compared with other European nations. According to the results of a survey published by MIELI Mental Health Finland in September 2021, 9% of Finns aged 18–34 have experienced severe suicidal thoughts in the past 12 months. Half of those surveyed said the Covid-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on their mental health.
#howareyou is a campaign designed and produced by Manifesto and Bob the Robot for MIELI Mental Health Finland to support the organisation’s work on suicide prevention. The aim of this high-profile, nationwide campaign is to raise awareness of suicide prevention and to provide practical, everyday tools to help people contemplating suicide.
The campaign culminated on World Suicide Prevention Day on 10 September.
Finland’s first virtual influencer becomes the face of #mitäkuuluu
The campaign was targeted at the Finnish population as a whole, with Manifesto leading the efforts to attract the public’s attention through earned media. Young people were chosen as the key target for the campaign, as evidence suggests their mental health has been most severely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Manifesto also extended a challenge to Finnish social media influencers popular with young audiences to generate their own #howareyou content on World Suicide Prevention Day.
In a Finnish first, the campaign also created Myrsky, a virtual influencer, to give voice to young people’s feelings and experiences. An AI-generated character, Myrsky’s thoughts are created using data submitted by young people through weekly surveys. The surveys proved popular, generating an excellent response.
Calls to crisis helpline went up during campaign
This year’s #howareyou campaign was again successful in encouraging people to talk about suicide prevention. It attracted significant media attention, including on Twitter, where posts with the hashtag #itsemurhienehkäisypäivä (Engl. #suicidepreventionday) reached more than 373,000 users.
The campaign’s key messages, survey data and peer support interviews were widely featured across all main media channels in Finland. During the campaign period, which ran from 9–12 September 2021, a total of 38 national media pickups were recorded. The combined reach of news items and articles amounted to more than 20 million readers.
The combined reach of news items and articles amounted to more than 20 million readers.
Myrsky’s Instagram profile attracted 170,000 unique visitors with the numbers continuing to rise. Around 30 Finnish influencers generated their own content on World Suicide Prevention Day, reaching 1.1 million followers.
In addition to the resounding media success, the campaign was also able to achieve its most important aim, leading to a rise in the number of people contacting a Finnish crisis helpline. During the campaign period, callers reporting suicidal thoughts represented 11.5% of all calls received, compared with 9.5% previously. Helpline staff spoke to 59 callers habouring suicidal thoughts. Of these, 10 had made plans to commit suicide, while one person was actively seeking to take their own life.
“Suicide prevention is not an easy to topic, but it is an important one. That’s why we’re so thrilled that our message was successful in reaching almost everyone in Finland. What’s been particularly rewarding to see is how eagerly social media influencers have stepped up to support young people, who have faced a particularly challenging time during the Covid-19 pandemic, and I’m heartened to see the impact our campaign has had on young people’s minds,” said Katri Korpinen, fundraising manager at MIELI Mental Health Finland.
Award success for #howareyou
In 2021, the #howareyou campaign won the Awards Pro Bono category in the Finnish Comms.
The previous year’s #mitäkuuluu campaign was a runner-up in the 2020 SABRE Awards EMEA Not-For-Profit Organizations category and went on win an Effie Award in the Products and Services category as well as a Finnish Comms Award in the Pro Bono category.