2023
Craft
Audio Craft
Voices in my air
Silver
Entrant:
Country:
Brand:
X3M Ideas
Nigeria
LPM Foundation
Background
As part of her ongoing advocacy campaign, LPM Foundation wanted to shine the spotlight on Schizophrenia as they had noticed from a survey conducted that Nigerians knew very little about it and even less about how to seek appropriate help for those who might be battling with it. Very few Nigerians have an ideal understanding of Schizophrenia and it’s often categorised as different things people except what it actually is. Many other reports had also shown that Nigerians have a high tendency of misdiagnosing mental health issues as a "spiritual" problem. The overall objective of the campaign then was to create specific awareness about schizophrenia and promote a general understanding of other mental health issues affecting Nigeria at large.
Creative Idea
Hearing voices is one of the most common symptoms of schizophrenia, so in execution, we made Nigerians experience what that feels like… on a live radio show. During a highly anticipated interview with one of Nigeria’s foremost DJs, we interjected the live programme with the voice of the same presenter (interviewer) talking about random things. At first, this confused listeners as they indeed were "hearing voices" but in the end, the presenter explained what they experienced and linked it back to how close it was to what people with schizophrenic episodes go through. In the end, with a short simulation on radio, we gave listeners an experiential view of what schizophrenia really felt like.
Strategy
After studying and talking to a number of healthcare professionals, we discovered that one of the most common symptoms of Schizophrenia is hallucinating by way of hearing voices. The idea then was to have people experience this symptom as a way to create better understanding of the disorder. We were working with a limited budget so the first thing we planned was how to get the most impact. We scanned through radio stations by their evening listenership numbers and executed on the station. We also picked the day and time when one of Nigeria's legendary DJs was being interviewed on the radio station and executed for two days straight. Hot FM, the radio station where the idea was executed has an average listener base of 780k people. After the second day, we had a 15% increase in calls enquiring about schizophrenia.
Execution
We interrupted an interview programme multiple times with the voice of the interviewer saying random things while the interview was ongoing. This caused a brief confusion for listeners but soon, they were made to realise it was a simulation of how schizophrenia works. The voices that interjected the programme was separately recorded by the interviewer and overlayed live on air. We also selected a highly anticipated interview featuring one of Nigeria's top DJs who was set to drop an album.
Results
15% Increase in Daily Calls
Credits
Client: Love, Peace and Mental Health Foundation Advertising Agency: X3M Ideas, Lagos, Nigeria Chief Creative Officer: Steve Babaeko Executive Creative Director: Mike Miller Director of Brand Management: Temitope Ayeni Creative Director: Anthony Wolve Deputy Creative Director: Kelechi Uduma, Oladunni Williams Head Of Art: Samuel Oluwagbemi Editor: Yinka Bamgboye