988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline Campaign
Full-Service
SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS
In July 2022, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline went live as the national three-digit dialing code for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, replacing what was the previous number, 1-800-273-TALK (8255). To support this national effort, Indiana designated funding to further enhance awareness of 988 by undertaking a statewide awareness-raising campaign.
Indiana is a state in need. As of May 2023, Mental Health America of Indiana reported that Indiana ranks among the top five worst states for depression, second in suicidal ideation, third in trauma, fourth in post-traumatic stress disorder and fifth in psychosis.
Indiana is using the arrival of 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline to invest in a broader crisis response system to help all Hoosiers. The goals over the next six to nine years are to always have someone to contact, someone to respond and a safe place for help.
SERVICES
Hirons provided paid media, creative development, website and online store development, statewide outreach coordination, event planning, public relations and research implementation services.
PAID MEDIA & ADVERTISING
The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline awareness campaign began at the end of May 2023 with digital display and paid search advertising. In June, Hirons launched terrestrial radio statewide, streaming audio and gas station pump toppers. In mid-August, Hirons placed 988 messaging in middle and high school locker rooms and on pizza boxes in college towns to gain additional exposure to this crucial message. All paid media strategies were engaged in September to coincide with National Suicide Prevention Month. This included the launch of streaming video and broadcast TV and utilizing strategic digital geofencing to connect with target audiences during highly attended events.
RESEARCH
In partnership with InAct, Hirons conducted an online survey among Hoosiers via screening questions to generate a baseline awareness percentage of the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline prior to the campaign start in 2023, as well as measure the relevance and motivational impact of the campaign concepts prior to full creative development.
WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT
To help expand the reach of 988 Indiana, Hirons designed and developed a website to inform audiences about the lifeline. This included FAQs broken into who, what, and where categories, and a robust resource toolkit translated into 15 languages.
A second phase of the website was initiated in January 2024 with the addition of an online storefront. The storefront allowed for external and internal partners to purchase 988 Indiana-branded merchandise.
RESOURCE TOOLKIT
The resource toolkit and a variety of assets have been translated into 15 languages to help make it accessible for all. Assets in the toolkit include coloring pages, email and text copy, printable posters, social media copy and graphics, videos of both crisis call center testimonials and all versions of the television/streaming video spots. In addition to the general 988 Indiana brand and a floral 988 brand execution, assets were created with different audiences and events in mind including veterans, youth and the holiday season.
PUBLIC OUTREACH AND PARTNERSHIPS
Hirons used a variety of tactics to implement a statewide outreach campaign through external partnerships.
A diverse selection of statewide community-based organizations were engaged through a targeted email campaign and encouraged to visit the online marketing resource toolkit on 988Indiana.org. Various awareness-raising assets were developed and housed on this site for these organizations to download and use through outreach to their members and stakeholders. Other outreach emails included information on National Suicide Prevention and National Recovery months, World Mental Health Day and more.
Through a partnership with Indianapolis Colts, 988 Indiana shared a booth with their Kicking the Stigma initiative at the August 16 pre-season training camp with the Chicago Bears at Grand Park in Westfield, Indiana as well as the New Year’s Eve Kicking the Stigma home football game against the Raiders. At both booths, promotional giveaways were distributed to fans in attendance and campaign signage identified the display.
Additional partnerships included sponsorships with the Pacers and Indianapolis Indians as well as Learfield Communications which included Purdue University, Indiana University, and Ball State University football games and Purdue University, Indiana University, Butler University, Evansville University, Ball State University and Purdue University Fort Wayne men’s basketball games.
We also secured NIL sponsorships with IU and Purdue student athletes and worked with a select group of student ambassadors at Indiana University to pilot a 988 Indiana awareness-raising campaign on the IU Bloomington campus.
During National Suicide Prevention Month, Hirons and FSSA hosted two press conferences. The first press conference was exclusively for student journalists around the state. Invites for students were sent both by FSSA and the Indiana High School Press Association. A couple of local schools attended in person, but the conference was also streamed live for those who could not attend in person at the Indiana Government Center in Indianapolis. The second press conference was shortly after the first and was for professional media. TV stations and local reporters attended to ask questions and learn about the lifeline. The press conference was also streamed live for statewide audiences.
Social media content creators were activated on Instagram to spread awareness about 988 Indiana and Suicide Prevention Month. Hirons gifted influencers with branded boxes containing 988 Indiana collateral and asked the influencers to do an “unboxing” on their pages through either a reel, static post or series of story slides. In addition to distributing gift boxes to social media influencers, Hirons did “station drops” with local Indianapolis TV stations.
To establish 988 Indiana’s presence for in-person volunteer opportunities, Hirons developed a variety of outreach materials including: buttons, coloring pages, dog bandanas, oversized coloring pages, Indiana-shaped magnets, Indiana-shaped stickers, magnet sheets, sticker sheets, branded boxes, note cards, posters, post-it notes, stress balls, table tents, branded tent and a step and repeat banner.
RESULTS
455,079,284
impressions
176,617
clicks
186,183
10%
OUR WORK
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