CALM COMEDY CLUB
BRIEF
Soon after Boris Johnson told us all to stay home, Twitter polled its UK users on how they were coping in lockdown.
What we found out was not good news. 1 in 3 people were struggling with their mental health. Hardly surprising, considering the only comedy act the nation had on offer was Matt Hancock, MP. So, we decided to use Twitter for what it’s best at: giving people a good laugh.
IDEA
We buddied up with leading mental health charity CALM to create #CALMComedyClub, a daily comedy set streamed live on Twitter, timed to go out just before the government’s daily briefings when the nation’s daily anxiety was peaking.
Each weekday, a top UK comedian took over @TwitterUK to deliver their sets, alongside a serious message about how CALM was there to help should viewers need support, or just someone to talk to.
RESULTS
We secured the support of Russell Kane, Sean Walsh, Dane Baptiste, Nigel Ng and Paul Chowhdry to all perform for free. And then we secured huge swathes of national coverage to drive audience figures with every national newspaper covering the campaign alongside the BBC, ITV and Channel 5 News.
The result: an audience three times that of the entire Edinburgh Festival tuned in to watch live (approx 10% of the UK’s Twitter users) to hear a message of support from CALM, just when the nation needed it most.