AUSTRALIA. oOh! Media has launched a powerful three-month Out of Home advertising campaign spotlighting the plight of returning soldiers in Australia. The campaign features at a range of venues, including airports.
According to oOh!, 46 soldiers have died in active service since 1999 while a startling 239 have taken their own life since returning.
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The powerful advertising campaign spotlights the plight of returning soldiers in Australia |
The campaign aims to raise funds to enable Walking Wounded – established to support the psychological recovery of Australian soldiers – to expand its mentoring and counselling services to help soldiers transition back into the community.
Walking Wounded, through a winning pitch by its creative agency BCM, was given A$1 million (US$698,000) worth of advertising space from oOh! as part of the Out Of Home advertising company’s 2015 Million Dollar Pitch competition. The national campaign will launch across oOh!’s fly, road, retail, café, office, study, venue and sport networks, featuring real stories of Australian soldiers who took their own lives last year and drawing attention to the incidence of suicide by returning veterans.
Walking Wounded CEO and Founder Brian Freeman said the tragic levels of incarceration, family break-ups, homelessness and suicide among soldiers as a result of what they witnessed while at war is not widely known within the community. “Walking Wounded knows that if we can mobilise the community and provide returning soldiers with mentoring and counselling, we can change all this,” Freeman said.
“This campaign will help us raise the funds to expand our services to help us achieve zero tolerance of veteran suicide. While for the first two years of operation Walking Wounded has been able to help returned soldiers through the generous support of some sponsors, this campaign will help take us to the next level of success.”
Updates about the campaign, results and marketing trends will be shown at www.oohmilliondollarpitch.com.au.
Australian songwriter John Schumann wrote this magnificent song about Philip Thompson, a former President of the Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia, who took his own life in November 1986. Its devastating lyric, “Non-commissioned Officer Thompson learned that the war wasn’t over yet” goes straight to the heart of the trauma faced by many veterans. |
oOh! Chief Executive Brendon Cook said the company became “emotionally invested” into bringing the Walking Wounded campaign to life after hearing the charity’s purpose and realising the opportunity of bringing BCM’s creative to life using the oOh!’ network.
“It is shocking to hear that veterans who have fought for Australia don’t feel they have the support in place to transition back into the community,” Cook said.
“The campaign, overhauled website, social media strategy and refreshed business plan were all developed by BCM pro-bono, which has all the elements of a powerful and successful campaign, utilising the unmissable and innovative potential of our network.
“We are not only providing Out Of Home advertising space, but working with Walking Wounded and its agencies to help this organisation achieve its goals. We have had tremendous support from some 35 of our landowners, installation contractors, agencies and printers who have donated their own services to help Walking Wounded achieve their objective.”
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46 dead in active service and 239 suicides since 1999: the shocking tale of Australia’s returning soldiers |
