FWD Takaful to fight mental health taboos in new campaign

FWD Takaful has partnered global brand and customer experience agency VMLY&R Singapore, an agency under WPP, and content experience agency Hogarth Malaysia, for an innovative new mental health awareness campaign.

While specific details are still under wraps, the campaign aims to overcome Malaysian cultural taboos around talking about mental health and will tap into Malaysia's love of music to raise awareness and generate conversations around mental health. 

“Social change starts with a conversation and talking about your problems can offer serious relief, so the new campaign aims to highlight this point and encourage open conversation in Malaysia as an antidote to the current stigma,” said Raymond Chin, chief creative officer, Asia at VMLY&R in a statement. 

The mental health campaign is set to launch in January 2024 and will run for three months. It will consist of film, video, digital, EDM, out-of-home, event and radio. 

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“It was refreshing to work on a pitch where the client understood the issues faced by agency teams and was willing to create a pitch brief that made the agencies’ mental health a priority. Everyone benefitted from the way FWD Takaful ran this pitch – the client got better ideas out of it, and the agency team was able to dedicate time and resources while making sure their mental health was taken care of,” said Chin.

This is just one of many mental health campaigns going on in Malaysia. In July this year, Malaysian shopping destination Suria KLCC turned the spotlight on the significance of self-care in commemoration of World Mental Health Day

According to FWD Group’s Mental Health Survey in 2022, 62% of Malaysians have experienced mental health challenges and severe social disapproval or know someone who has. 

The report also states that Malaysians are fearful of admitting to having mental health challenges due to stigma and taboos, which impacts their ability to access medical help.

VMLY&R’s campaign aims to normalise and destigmatise this issue across the country by highlighting the benefits of having conversations about our negative feelings.

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