BCM Group and LIVIN are urging marketers to donate 0.9% of their digital advertising spend to fuel a suicide prevention campaign. The initiative, dubbed Inter[NET]vention, utilises search data insights and AI-targeting algorithms to identify individuals online who may be in a suicidal mindset. Once identified, the campaign retargets these individuals with crowd-sourced messages of support, directing them to a dedicated destination page.

The pilot program has shown promising results, with retargeting ads achieving a 117% higher click-through rate than the industry benchmark for banner ads. Individuals targeted by the campaign spend an average of two minutes on the destination page, 40% longer than the average website engagement.

"Digital campaigns like this one have the potential to be incredibly effective due to their broad reach and immediacy. They provide a platform for sharing authentic stories and messages of hope, which really hits home for individuals in distress. This approach encourages help-seeking behaviour, offering an alternative to the devastating choice of ending one's life, which occurs every 2.5 to 3 hours in Australia," said LIVIN Head Psychologist, Luke Foster.

The campaign is powered by partnerships with Yahoo, NewsCorp, IAS, NZME, and DoubleVerify. It has seen 3.3% of website users interact with help services. Global dental education group, Ripe Global, is the first organisation to donate to the initiative.

"Data shows this audience is most active from 12-4am when demand for ad space is low, allowing us to take over every ad this audience sees with a minimal investment. Taking into account results to date, it’s possible that with as little as $500 we could secure up to 120,000 exposures to crowd-sourced messages, driving upwards of 300 at-risk people to the destination site," said Head of Strategy BCM, Dave Mooney.

"Dentistry is plagued with mental health issues, burn out, and high suicide rates. So initiatives like these are incredibly important to us. It’s amazing for RipeGlobal to be able to partner with LIVIN, BCM and media brands and utilise latest technology to help prevent suicide," said CEO and Founder, Ripe Global, Lincoln Harris.

"Working with BCM on this campaign has been a privilege. Unfortunately too many people have all been touched by suicide in some way, and to be a small part of helping to change the stats, but more importantly, be there in moments of need, and essentially help save lives is so much bigger than media," said QLD Director of Yahoo, Lucinda Pfitzner.