Samaritans

Caroline Flack

The high profile death of Love Island presenter and celebrity, Caroline Flack, presented a range of challenges. Initially, one of resources with unprecedented levels of interest in suicide issues and also one of reputation for Samaritans itself, as an ‘educator’ and ‘enforcer’ of sensitive media reporting on suicide to help prevent increases in public interest and risk of suicide.

Third party retailers started to sell merchandise in memory of Caroline Flack, publicising their donations from these sales to Samaritans. Sensitive negociations were required to mitigate reputational risk. I also liased with Love Island producers ITV to create and broadcast a Samaritans ident (*advert) for the first episode following her death. This also required sensitive handling due to potential percieved inappropraite association with the programme makers. The ident resulted in significant call volume increases (volume available confidentially) and in significantly increasing the organisation’s reach to a younger audience (18 – 25s). This is a core strategic objective of Samaritans.

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Samaritans

Real people, real stories

I played a key role leading the preparations for the Samaritans’ flagship annual campaign, Real People, Real Stories. When I arrived, I discovered it was designed to launch for the first time with research funded by its strategic partner, Network Rail. This presented a range of complexities.

Provided by an independent supplier, the research concluded that men most at risk of suicide said they benefited from informal services and groups such as ‘Men’s Sheds’. This led disagreements around core messaging and, it was aurgued, could have undermined the authority and reputation of Samaritan’s core service. The campaign was led by filmed case studies (pictured) and accompanied with paid for media space. In mid-March 2020, I spoke in confidence to top BBC News producers to identify appetite for coverage and following their feedback, I advised it be delayed. Not only was the news agenda entirely Covid-focused, proactive work risked drawing attention to a business model impacted adversely by the pandemic. This is a good example of advising senior managers, leading a team, working with complex data, managing challenging stakeholder relationships and applying an insiders grasp of the news agenda to mitigate risk.