Published by Sue Johns-Chapman
Published Date 07.07.2023 Who are Stand?
Stand is an award-winning, B Corp-certified comms consultancy based in London. We’re here for the trailblazers who believe in better. We disrupt sectors, build brands, shift mindsets and change behaviours.
Since launching a decade ago, we have a long-standing track record in the third sector, crafting campaigns that address issues at the heart of our society – from tackling health inequalities or asking big questions about the purpose of the education system, to reframing later life or addressing public attitudes to renewables in their community.
At Stand, one of our values is ‘make change happen’. We believe in the power of communications to make an impact, so it’s incredibly rewarding to be shortlisted for the Best Integrated Digital PR award for our #InThisWithYou campaign with Tommy’s.
Who are Tommy’s?
Tommy’s is the largest UK pregnancy and baby loss charity, dedicated to finding causes and treatments to save babies’ lives as well as providing trusted pregnancy and baby loss information and support.
The challenge
Our challenge was to raise awareness of a new support hub for partners on the pregnancy journey – a largely unsupported and overlooked audience. A large subgroup of partners is men and it’s widely documented that it’s harder to encourage men to speak about their feelings or show vulnerability. Research shows men are less likely to access therapy – with only 36% of referrals to NHS talking therapies and men making up 73% of missing adults.
We also needed to strike a balance tonally, showing dads and partners that Tommy’s is ‘for them’ too, while continuing to resonate with people who were on a positive pregnancy journey but feeling anxious and those experiencing miscarriage or baby loss.
The campaign
Our campaign prompted a desperately needed conversation within baby loss about how pregnancy affects both parents. Did you know that 70% of partners felt support for them during and after pregnancy was either not good or non-existent? By raising awareness of Tommy’s new support hub for partners on their pregnancy journey, we showed dads/partners that support is ‘for them’ too.
We created a platform #InThisWithYou with its own look and feel, which felt rooted in the Tommy’s brand, but specifically for the partner audience. Given the audience was new to Tommy’s, we knew this would be a marathon, not a sprint, and that it was necessary to create space to test, learn and see what worked best. As such, our campaign was inherently integrated across multiple touch points. To reach partners where they were, we pulled away from traditional media and opted for a full channel mix, swapping the Guardian for beer mats, BBC Breakfast for Reddit, and a Radio Day for Spotify.
The results
Importantly, the campaign made a real difference – not just a flash in the pan, but foundational work rooted in insight to reach an overlooked audience that really needed help. 35% of men aged 25-48 said they had seen the campaign (the highest of all groups, showing effective targeting) and we generated over 3,000+ visits to the hub, 500K views of video and a 2.7% increase in male visitors to their website.
We’re incredibly proud to have been part of the transformative change that Tommy’s is creating in the space of pregnancy and to help people throughout their pregnancy journey and would be delighted to win the Integrated Digital PR Award and be recognised for our work – we’ll be eagerly awaiting the results.
