Lifting Someone Out of Loneliness

11th February 2022

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a trainer shaped balloon lifting someone into the sky – and all for very good reason.

Lifting someone out of loneliness via balloon shaped objects is the focus of the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s new campaign video, delivered as part of the wider Better Health: Every Mind Matters campaign. This activity follows the Department’s successful Let’s Talk Loneliness campaign, launched in 2018 as part of the Government’s first strategy to tackle loneliness.

The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly raised the issue of loneliness and isolation, with many people experiencing loneliness themselves or taking action to support others for the first time. Due to this, we switched our campaign focus to promote accessible and practical steps people could take to help themselves or others who may be feeling lonely during lockdown.

We know that many people may find it hard to reconnect as life returns to ‘normal’ and restrictions are lifted. We decided to make the most of this opportunity, taking a step back to re-identify those who may be at higher risk of feelings of loneliness and highlight to them that while we all are likely to feel lonely at some point in our lives, there are simple steps they can take that may be able to help.

Based on recent research, we identified young people aged 18-24 were at higher risk of feeling lonely compared to other age groups, but less likely to seek advice and support. We also were able to identify that there are certain groups who may be at higher risk of feelings of loneliness – such as those who are unemployed, living alone, students, people who are LGBTQ+, have underlying health issues and new parents.

When looking at behaviours, we recognised that 18-24 year olds feel more confident and motivated to take action to help other people who feel lonely, rather than doing things to help themselves and that when asked about feelings of loneliness, people associated it with darkness and feeling trapped. We therefore knew that we wanted to purposefully frame our creatives in a light, positive way to try and re-frame these connotations.

With this knowledge, we developed a campaign strategy that focused on encouraging people to reach out to someone and ‘lift them out of loneliness’, by carrying out small acts of kindness to help someone who may be feeling lonely. Helping someone else can help you feel valued, useful and better connected to others and the community. By reaching out to others who may feel lonely, you are also likely to feel less lonely too.

Fancy a cuppa? Fancy a walk? Sometimes reaching out with as little as three words can make a big difference. Through using characters and objects across the campaign that would resonate with the target audience, we wanted to bring to life the positive feeling of how someone reaching out can help us all feel – like a weight lifted.

The campaign points people towards the Every Mind Matters loneliness webpage, where there is practical advice and tips for people to help themselves or others who may be feeling lonely, alongside suggested support routes.

Our campaign is running across channels most frequented by our target audience. We have audio ads running across Spotify and selected podcasts, and video ads running across YouTube and social media, including Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook. We are also advertising on gaming platforms.

We have already had huge support from people and organisations who have shared the campaign across their channels, and are looking forward to working with our supportive partners throughout February and March 2022 on wider activity to spread this important message. We are always keen to work with partners in the loneliness or social connection space, as well as those with a unique ability to speak to both specific and broad audiences to ensure our support and guidance gets to those who may be feeling lonely.

You can download assets and example social media copy from the Campaign resource centre. For more information on how to get involved and support, please email campaigns@dcms.gov.uk.