The Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) has assigned communications and branding duties for its Partners for Mental Health initiative to Toronto agencies Public Inc. and Blok Design.
The announcement follows a review that began earlier this spring.
A joint pitch from Public and Blok was among the submissions shortlisted by Partners for Mental Health, a marketing program created by the MHCC to drive support for mental health issues. Public Inc. will be responsible for communications, while Blok Design will handle the branding component of the business.
Jeff Moat, vice-president of Partners for Mental Health, said his organization held in-person meetings with 10 agencies, with some participants vying for both the communications and branding responsibilities and others pitching one element or the other.
The Public/Blok bid won out, Moat said, in part because of Public’s expertise in driving consumer actions that benefits social causes.
“Instead of spending resources on simply creating awareness, we wanted instead to get Canadians to take action,” Moat said. “We felt that Public was really focused, based on their experience, on getting people to take action, and that’s why they were the best fit.”
Moat said Partners for Mental Health and its new agencies are currently gathering information from stakeholders in an effort to lay the strategic foundation for a comprehensive campaign. The organization hopes to launch new work by the end of this year.
The announcement from Partners for Mental Health is the latest development in what has been a busy few months in mental health marketing. Last September, Bell launched Let’s Talk, a five-year, $50 million program to support mental health research and services. More recently, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health chose Bos as its new agency partner in May.
“We’re starting to see a number of different organizations and corporations support what is arguably a part of the health care system that has not received a lot of attention and desperately needs it,” Moat said.
