One Life Only - Ailton Henriques

ONE LIFE ONLY

Role: Art Direction
Agency: BBDO Germany
Client: Caritas

↳ Suicide is the second biggest killer of German youth under the age of 25. Caritas created their [U25] organization to help combat these alarming statistics by offering support and counseling to vulnerable youth under 25. It’s proven that confronting your feelings and discussing them openly with somebody is one of the most effective ways to prevent suicide from happening. However, a big part of the problem is that suicide is a taboo topic that isn’t being spoken enough about.

On September the 10th, the International day of suicide prevention, Caritas launched a gaming community campaign to break the silence. Instead of lecturing on suicide, we gave young gamers something that interests them, a new game – with a difference. A game that can only be played once. Because just like in real life, every player has ONE LIFE ONLY.

A mobile game you can only play once.

↳ Just like in real life, every gamer only has one life. And the game can only be played once. The player controls a character who loses the ground underneath his feet and falls deeper and deeper into the darkness of depression. The aim is to stay in the light for as long as possible by capturing heart-shaped balloons and avoiding the mind monsters that drag you down.

_

And the game transforms into a help messenger.

↳ After playing the game, it can no longer be played. But the app continues living on their mobile phones, transforming itself into a direct helpline messenger to the folks at Caritas suicide prevention. So that help is immediately available in case of a crisis.

Jonas Monar turns a hashtag into a song.

↳ The singer-songwriter Jonas Monar released a song to the public specially composed for the campaign. "#DuBistMirWichtig" / "#YouMatterToMe" is the song title and at the same time the campaign hashtag.

The song became the artist's most successful single. In the song, he breaks the silence and speaks about personal experiences with the topic of suicide. A music video and radio appearances spread the song and its message within the music community.

The
Campaign Website

↳ All traffic the campaign creates is funneled to the microsite dubistmirwichtig.de (meaning: You are important to me), where further information, interviews from suicide survivors, and help are provided to anyone that was looking for it. The character of a young man that feels like he is continuously falling deeper into the darkness of depression navigates the user through the content. This creates a more connected experience with the topic and how it feels like to live with depression and suicidal thoughts.

The endless scrolling loop mechanic of the website leads the user through the dark inner feeling back to the light at the beginning of the experience. A symbol of hope. Because bringing the dark, internal thoughts to light and sharing them with others is the first step to survival.

Let's talk about suicide.

↳ Sometimes you can see when someone is in crisis and needs help. And sometimes you can draw strength from your own experiences to help these people.

Awards

Credits

CCO
Wolfgang Schneider

Creative Managing Director
Kristoffer Heilemann

Creative Directors
Andy Wyeth
Konstanze Druyen

Senior Art Director
Ailton Henriques 👋

Art Director
Till Reiber
Rosario Brancato

Copywriter
Christian Mueller-Horrig

Concept
Rod Henriques
Michael Plueckhahn

Creative Technologist
Martin Boeing-Messing

Account Team
Patrick Heinz
Jan Kronies
Marta Zlatewa
Marco Triendl

Credits

Production Company
CraftWork

Craftwork
Chief Production Officer
Steffen Gentis

Producer
David Muellenborn
Tina Bornkampf

Editor
Juhn Kim
Alexander Link
Niklas Lemburg

Artist (Music Video)
Jonas Monar

Audio Production House
nhb ton GmbH

Producer
Verena Beck

Director (Music Video)
Sven Schrader

Game Consultant
Kristin Janulik