The award for Excellence in Public Health Communications was won by Hanover Communications for its male suicide awareness initiative at this year’s Communiqué Awards.
The ‘#Savethemale – Raising Awareness and Money to Prevent Male Suicide’ campaign was created with CALM (the Campaign Against Living Miserably) to raise public awareness and drive support for the charity’s work with the BBC Lifeline Appeal and International Men’s Day.
Explaining their decision, the Communiqué judges said they were impressed by the “true social buzz” created by the agency’s social media strategy, which generated a 700% rise in Facebook fans as well as tweets by high profile figures including Stephen Fry, Ricky Gervais and Norman Lamp MP.
Overall, the BBC Lifeline Appeal raised over £22,000 during the course of the ‘#Savethemale’ campaign – one of the largest amounts raised by any charity through the appeal, according to Hanover.
The judges added: “Here we saw a difficult topic tackled in an appropriate and sensitive way with content that was really well-tailored to its target audience.
“The increase in awareness stats was impressive, as was the campaign’s ability to raise funds that mean more people are staffing the helpline, which could lead to a lasting legacy.”
Run by PMLiVE’s publisher the PMGroup, the Communiqué Awards are specifically designed to recognise and commend excellence and best practice in local, European and international healthcare communications.