Heads Up Boston: A Youth-Led Movement That Addresses Today’s Mental Health Crisis

Argus created and activated a youth-led campaign, featuring a pop-up store in downtown Boston, that promotes mental wellbeing and peer support, in partnership with the Boston Public Health Commission, youth across Boston, NOBULL Apparel, and iHeartMedia. The campaign was developed based on two research insights: First, teenage participants across Boston showed an association between the term mental health and "being in trouble," rather than wellness. Second, youth saw the value in "being there" for their friends, but the stigma associated with the idea of mental health made it difficult for youth to reach out when they themselves were in distress. We needed to forge new associations with "mental health" in our audiences' minds, and after extensive discussions with youth and adult advisors, we saw an opportunity to put Boston teenagers at the forefront of a movement to redefine how all of us think about our emotional well-being. Through a series of workshops, youth put the issue in their own terms, which served as powerful inspiration for the creative process. Anchored on the core idea that "We can make things better," we launched the Heads Up movement to empower youth to listen and speak out about mental health. In a survey held at our landmark in-person activation at the Boston pop-up store, 75% of youth indicated that after attending the event, they were more likely to talk to a friend about their mental health. (We also "sold-out" of swag). Through youth partnership, we cultivated brand ambassadors to expand the reach of and trust in our message.