QLD Health and MediaCom launch activation to help young people end unhealthy relationships

This Valentine’s Day Queensland Health together with MediaCom, asked young people which unhealthy relationship will they end?

Queensland was invited to celebrate this Valentine’s Day with a Break Up. The End your unhealthy relationships activation, led by MediaCom, was held at Reddacliff Brisbane–encouraging Queenslanders to make a pledge by breaking up with one of their unhealthy habits. Whether it’s deep-fried food, soft drinks, or simply too much screen time, Valentine’s Day provided the perfect time to show some self-love and break up with an unhealthy relationship.

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Over summer, Queensland Health launched the End your unhealthy relationships campaign on cinema, digital and social platforms. Thursday’s event was a joint venture between WPP agencies MediaCom, Maverick and PPR. The team worked as one seamless group to encourage Queenslanders to reflect on their own unhealthy habits and consider ending just one. 

The activation was centred around showing Queenslanders that small changes can add up to a big change, and for people to see how good they can feel. This was done through Queenslanders making a pledge in exchange for a range of healthy giveaways from fresh apples, healthy popcorn, nuts and tea, as well as a choice of adventure activities such as kayaking and SUPing, and ultimately go into the running for the major prize of a dinner for two or a tandem bike.

PPR arranged for local radio star Matty Acton to promote and host the event and implemented a specialist strategic PR approach that included engagement with key government stakeholders. Maverick managed event logistics, production and sourced renowned street artist Kiel Tillman. Throughout the day, activation staff unearthed the reasons behind the break up stories and Tillman creatively interpreted the pledges into a gigantic mural.

MediaCom Beyond Advertising, MediaCom’s specialist content division, created the idea and oversaw the entire operation, handling the content production, turning around the story in under 24 hours. Over the weekend, MediaCom implemented a content distribution strategy sharing the story across YouTube encouraging more Queenslanders to make their pledge and enter an online competition.

Over the course of the entire day, the activation attracted more than 383 pledges and the content was viewed by more than 155,000 Queenslanders.

Says Katherine Williams, managing director, MediaCom Brisbane: “We’re in a privileged position at WPPAUZ to provide Queensland Government with a diverse and dedicated team of experts in government advertising. This engaging stunt showcases the bravery and boldness of Queensland Health to go in a different direction on such an iconic day. The teams collaborated brilliantly from ideation to execution, culminating in a full-service offering across creative, activation, PR and media.”

Says Robert Hoge, strategic communications senior director, the Queensland Department of Health: “Our goal was to bring the Break Up message into the real world and we’re delighted with the hundreds of diverse and interesting pledges. The giveaways became a comedic and light-hearted approach of publicly broaching the subject of healthy living with young Queenslanders. The day proved that small changes can have a big difference and the wall became the perfect canvas to capture the feeling and sentiment of Queensland’s young people.”