Case Study
Client:
Dave Cottrell, Mindset By Dave
Area of Expertise:
Mental Health & Mindfulness
Aim of PR Campaign:
To get mental health in the mainstream media so that more people feel comfortable talking about it and therefore reducing the effects it has on your mental health
The Brief:
Dave is a mental health advocate and wants to use his voice and create a platform for others to open up and talk about their mental health. He wants to make it part of the everyday conversation, not something to be embarrassed or ashamed about.
Having been prescribed as bipolar and attempting to take his own life, he very much speaks from the scar, not the wound.
Why PR with Perkes
Initially, Dave was referred to me by someone I had met at a networking meeting. As with many business owners, he had tried to secure his own PR but wasn’t getting any cut-through and realised that not only was it taking up a lot of his own time and energy, but was negatively affecting his mental health too.
So, it was time to outsource it to an expert. He trusted in me because of the results that I’ve achieved for other clients and because of my open and honest nature.
The PR Campaign: 90-day programme
During our Delve Deeper Day it was very apparent that Dave had two distinct ideal clients: one was female and the other was male, but each had very specific traits - the men would often turn to drink, drugs and gambling to help them deal with their emotions, while the women would turn to alcohol and food.
The aim of the PR campaign was to get people to think about their mental health differently, so that it’s no longer taboo, but part of our everyday lives and everyday conversations.
Due to the short-term nature of the PR campaign, the focus was to make as much impact as possible, so the focus was very much on online coverage as it has a much faster turnaround time.
The Results:
During the 90-day PR programme, Dave was positioned as the expert in 6 key media outlets, including:
Yahoo! Style - How to combat male loneliness
Yahoo! Style - The negative effects of being told to ‘man up’
Sheerluxe.com - Daily tips for improving mental health
Magpie Wedding - How to overcome wedding day nerves - bride & groom
BBC Radio Oxford - interview on the mental health effects of body shaming
Natural Health - the effect that stress has on our body
If we look at the circulation figures of each publication and the listener figures for BBC Radio Oxford, then the Mindset By Dave brand was positioned in front of 567,256 people.