Crisis Text Line sees massive increase in recruitment following Radio Ad campaign

You may have heard the ads on WLR, and now you can read the results. Crisis Text Line is Ireland's first free 24/7 text service for anyone in crisis and is funded by the HSE's Mental Health Services. Earlier this year the charity teamed up with the Choose Radio initiative to launch an advertising campaign to recruit new volunteers, and the response has been overwhelming.

The two ads ran across 34 stations in the Choose Radio group covering all independent radio stations, including WLR FM. The sole campaign mechanic was a radio spot advert. This goes to prove that a radio spot ad still has outstanding power to amplify the advertiser’s messages. Havas Media created a powerful spot ad that drove the message to the heart of a potential volunteer. The results of the campaign were exceptional with highlights as follows:

• 475% - the percentage increase in traffic to the Crisis Text Line website.
• 252 - the number of people who undertook the 30 minute application process.
• 126% - the percentage exceeded of the target recruitment.
• 34 - the number of stations with spot ads running the two spot ads for the campaign period.
• 21 - spots ran on each station during each of the two weeks of the campaign in August.
• 2 - the number of creative executions from Havas Media
• 1 – winning result!

Speaking about the results, Choose Radio Chairperson Gabrielle Cummins said “The results that we found show three crucial points. Number one, spot, call to action radio advertising is still king. Number two, investing in creative is key. And number three, Choose Radio has proven that once again, radio can create success stories for our clients, and we're particularly proud of this innovative advertising campaign, that it's worked so well for this brand new charity. And it's just so amazing that this charity is going to be able to help thousands of people right across Ireland, and we're delighted to be able to help them embark on this important journey.”

The Crisis Text Line platform connects texters with a volunteer, who is most likely at home, who has been trained to listen, reassure and guide people from a hot moment to a cool calm. All conversations are anonymous, unless the texter wants to give their name, and are reviewed in real time by a team of qualified staff supervisors who will support volunteers to listen to and support texters. The platform uses artificial intelligence (AI) to scan the initial messages from texters for keywords to identify those likely to be at immediate risk and prioritise those conversations in the queue. Crisis Text Line is funded by the Health Service Executive (HSE) Mental Health Services.