Mind Festive Fears Campaign

We worked with the Oxfordshire regional branch of leading mental health charity Mind. Offering vital mental health support across Oxfordshire and Berkshire West, the charity reached out to Pic PR for its support in developing a Christmas fundraising campaign set to tackle the ever-growing mental health crisis – particularly among young adults during the festive period.

A central crux of the campaign centred on raising awareness at a regional level about the waiting list for NHS mental health services, which, in some instances, can be as high as five years.

Oxfordshire Mind acts as a vital support function alongside the efforts of the NHS, and the charity wanted to highlight its services across the county, while driving essential fundraising support.

Research by Oxfordshire Mind highlighted how festive gatherings can worsen isolation and anxiety in young adults when proper mental health support isn't available.

A mental health forum with over 40 young people from Berkshire West informed our campaign messaging, revealing significant gaps between young people's needs and adults' understanding – alongside worries about five-year NHS waiting times. We developed "Festive Fears," using Christmas as context to spotlight young people's mental health struggles whilst emphasising the lengthy NHS waiting periods.

Presenting Oxfordshire Mind with several concepts focused on these waiting lists, the standout approach centred on the question "Where do you see yourself in five years?" – highlighting the consequences of delayed care.

From here, we built a structured campaign featuring both a short film and a conversation guide to 'Mindful Talk', which was created with Oxfordshire youth to help adults support young people during festive events.

The guide offered practical advice for making social interactions uplifting rather than stressful. We filmed during summer, planning distribution through PR, social media and community engagement as we entered the early Christmas period. The outreach strategy encompassed four phases: campaign launch, mindful talk guide release, pre-Christmas support push and New Year results sharing to boost donations.

Across November and December and leading into January the campaign secured more than 40 pieces of press coverage.

Each aspect of the campaign generated a fresh round of media coverage, with the launch targeting key local outlets, subsequently seeing it feature in the likes of The Oxford Mail, This is Oxfordshire, the Reading Chronicle and Banbury Guardian, alongside national coverage through Yahoo! News and Philanthropy News Digest.

A particular highlight also saw the campaign feature on BBC Radio Oxford, with a large section of its morning shows dedicated to mental health, which included an interview with Ian Nutt, Oxfordshire Mind’s Head of Development.

A mental health case study involving an individual impacted by the NHS wait times was also read out by one of the producers as the show opened, with this subsequently aired several times across the day.

The release of the guide for mindful talk also generated a further raft of press coverage across the Oxfordshire Herald Series, the Witney Gazette and the Bicester Advertiser, as well as the Oxford Mail, This is Oxfordshire, Yahoo! News and MSN.

As we approached Christmas, we highlighted the success of the campaign up until that point, which, again, caused another flurry of press coverage across the key local publications helping to drive late donations.

Post Christmas, we took one last opportunity to enhance brand awareness and push campaign donations for a final time, sharing its success with local media, which generated further coverage online and in print across the Oxford Mail, This is Oxfordshire, Oxford Times, Banbury Guardian and more.

This integrated approach, combining emotional storytelling with practical solutions, ensured the campaign reached its fundraising target and engaged a wide audience with the message of urgency surrounding young people’s mental health.

Our efforts helped raise almost £20,000, providing Oxfordshire Mind with vital funds to extend its services to even more young people in need. Media coverage amplified the campaign’s reach, ensuring the key messages were broadcast across the important regional platforms, engaging an audience right across Oxfordshire and beyond.

The success of the campaign was not only measured by the funds raised but also by the level of public engagement. 547,942 people viewed the campaign’s short film online, and social media interactions showed a high level of support, with numerous individuals sharing their own stories of mental health struggles, thus building a sense of community and solidarity.

The effectiveness of the campaign was also seen in the increased awareness of the gap between the mental health needs of young people and the support available. Following its success, Oxfordshire Mind have requested our support on a second campaign in 2025.