Two out of three football fans have struggled with their mental health, but just one in three have ever talked about it. Building on the continued success of Three’s #TalkMoreThanFootball campaign, and believing that connectivity is a force for good, we teamed up with Chelsea FC and Samaritans to get the nation talking. Enlisting the help of footballing legend and Hollywood hardman, Vinnie Jones, we created a team talk with a difference. Instead of match tactics, we delivered a timely message about mental health, and how important it is for football fans to open up and talk beyond the game with the people they care about, asking how one another are really feeling and having the confidence to share themselves.
While given to Chelsea’s first team, the team talk and wider campaign addressed the whole footballing community, traveling far beyond the dressing room, resonating deeply with football fans taking to social media to voice their support. Over the course of the campaign, the hero film was trending on X in the UK, delivering over 149m social views, 750k engagements, 403 pieces of press coverage and 22.8M TV impacts. The impact of our team talk translated into tangible business results, with Three’s brand association with football increasing from 19% to 27% (an all-time high). Most importantly, supporting content and training educated fans on the ‘how’ to talk more than football, with over 91% saying they felt more likely to open up about mental health as a result of the campaign.
