One in five Australians are impacted by mental illness. Most of them go unnoticed due to the lack of awareness around mental health and wellbeing. What if we could do more to inform the masses about the importance of mental health and wellbeing in our everyday life — whether at work, school or home?
AdMental is designed to do just that. The brainchild of the Mental Health Coalition of South Australia, Adelaide Advertising and Design Club and the Don Dunstan Foundation, the annual event taps into the power of marketing and advertising to increase awareness and understanding of mental health and wellbeing.
The format is simple: two budding creatives get shortlisted and paired with a creative agency to bring their film scripts alive. The finished films are judged by a panel of judges at the event, Gruen-style. The stakes: the Geoff Robertson Memorial Trophy, a chance for the creatives to show off their chops to the advertising industry, a fully-paid Award School scholarship and most importantly, the opportunity to create a piece of communication that can prompt positive change.
This year’s AdMental brief focused on the mental health and wellbeing of first responders. How do we take care of those who take care of us? The AADC tapped Fuller Brand Communication to mentor Karen Michele, one of the two shortlisted creatives for this year’s edition of the event.
Karen’s film script titled, #SeeThem, highlighted the fact that first responders are real people who experience unimaginable trauma in their effort to protect and keep our community safe. First responders are called essential workers for a reason. We need them and it’s essential that they stay fit and well.
We worked with Karen to bring her vision to life—storyboarding scenes, brainstorming sound design and lighting, sharpening bits of dialogue, and finally stitching the film together. Of course, we needed a few other vital hands on deck and so we reached out to some of Adelaide’s go-to film production folk—who all said yes to the cause at the drop of a hat.
Special thanks to Richie Coburn, Riley Scott, Scott Illingworth, Jake Viskic, Austin Arruzzolo, Travis Williamson, Dan Ross and Slavi Gaitt for their amazing work, and to Picture Hire for the gear. Last but not least, a big thanks to Matt Hyde, Eddie Simms and Martha Lott, for their moving performances.
Karen’s #SeeThem picked up the top gong at AdMental 2022. As a certified BCorp and an agency that strives to increase the amount of ‘For Good’ work we do each year, we couldn’t be more proud of the film Karen and our team have produced.
We hope the film moves viewers to rethink their perceptions of mental health and wellbeing, and especially see first responders for who they are — everyday people who could be battling serious work-related trauma. They’re not superheroes. It’s time we really see them.