Tactica Interactive launches social media campaign Reason to Live

Tactica Interactive, Winnipeg-based interactive agency & my husband’s company, recently launched the Reason to Live campaign with the Manitoba Suicide Line. The launch, held at Klinic, featured Minister of Healthy Living Jim Rondeau & some moving Aboriginal singing from one of the campaign participants and his father.

“A key component to this approach is the use of social marketing strategies to reach youth in particular, and spread the message about the resource,” says Tim Wall, Director of Counselling Services at Klinic. According to Janet Smith, Program Manager for the Manitoba Suicide Line, “using social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube can play a critical role in suicide prevention and engage youth in conversations that promote awareness, understanding and help-seeking behaviours”.

The viral components of the campaign, designed for easy social sharing on Facebook and Twitter, include several powerful videos telling the stories of Manitobans whose lives have been affected by suicide. Watch for yourself; the first-person accounts are very compelling. Tactica’s social media strategy is already having an impact, according to program managers; with callers indicating they’d seen the message of hope online.

The challenge with this project was that it needed to have a social component, but there was no content to share. Tactica had to figure out what was the most compelling aspect of the Suicide Line’s work, which was of course the personal accounts of people who’ve dealt with suicide. Tactica decided to produce a series of videos, the most direct and easily shareable method of storytelling. If you want people to talk, you’ve got to give them something to talk about.