Bipolar UK

Raising awareness of Bipolar UK and its life-changing services for people living with bipolar disorder in the wake of COVID 19

Bipolar UK knew that there were thousands of people across the UK struggling with bipolar disorder, experiencing increased feelings of anxiety and depression, and not able to access the help they needed.

The charity came to PHA with a challenge to create a media moment, in the midst of a pandemic, that would demonstrate the impact the COVID-19 pandemic was having on those living with Bipolar disorder while raising awareness of Bipolar UK, and signposting those that needed help to the charity’s vital services and eCommunity.

We knew that our campaign would need to talk to two audiences – the media and the bipolar community. To achieve this, we worked closely with the Bipolar UK team and implemented two key strands of activity: a community webinar event, underpinned by a hard-working press office to ensure maximum exposure for Bipolar UK.

To engage the bipolar community, we launched the campaign by planning a virtual webinar event, entitled “Being Your Best with Bipolar”, which was chaired by award-winning TV and radio presenter, and Bipolar UK supporter, Leah Charles-King.

This event invited people living with or affected by bipolar disorder to hear from and engage with a panel of inspirational business owners, influencers, and celebrities, who have learnt to be their very best while living with their own bipolar in order to achieve their goals and dreams.

In sharing these experiences, the webinar aimed to empower people from the bipolar community to feel better supported and inspired during this challenging time, whilst also raising awareness of Bipolar UK’s support services. The webinar allowed us to directly engage with the bipolar community, providing support and a voice to those who had felt isolated and disconnected as a result of the pandemic.

In addition, we needed to raise awareness of Bipolar UK with the media and broader audiences outside of the existing community. We activated an ongoing press office to increase visibility for Bipolar UK around World Mental Health Day, which consisted of regular, proactive media relations, strategic feature placement, news agenda hijacking, and CEO profiling, with the aim of educating people in the UK about bipolar disorder, whilst positioning Bipolar UK as a leading authority within this sector.

The community webinar event saw 480 attendees, including members of the bipolar community, the general public, and journalists from the national, consumer and health media, such as Therapy Today, Vice, Refinery 29, The Telegraph and HELLO! We achieved our objective of engaging and supporting the community by driving sign ups through social media and media and influencer coverage, with the webinar creating a moment for the community to feel supported and inspired.

Our press office generated 25 pieces of media and social coverage for Bipolar UK, with articles secured in The Telegraph, Metro, GQ, and Health & Wellbeing and posts from social media influencers living with bipolar disorder – all of which focussed on education and awareness raising of bipolar, creating a platform and media moment for the charity at a critical time.