As the new AFL season kicked off in early March, the AFL Coaches Association (AFLCA), AFL Players’ Association (AFLPA) and Zurich Insurance rolled out a fresh wave of work in their joint Tackle Your Feelings (TYF) mental health initiative seeking to encourage community footy clubs to invest in mental wellbeing.
Objective
The campaign aims to inspire amateur suburban AFL clubs to prioritize mental health like they do other aspects of their football programs and offers a starting point for this by encouraging them to book a free ‘Tackle Your Feelings’ mental health workshop delivered by a local psychologist.
Activation
The latest wave of TYF work in this ongoing AFL cause initiative launched to leverage spiking footy interest around the 7 March start of the new 2024 season.
Developed jointly by a trio of project partners – the AFLCA, the AFLPA and league sponsor Zurich Insurance – alongside agency Adroitly, a new creative platform called ‘Be a Champ’ took an accessibly light-hearted approach to a serious message about the vital importance of mental wellbeing and the role amateur clubs can have in improving their players’ and community’s mental health.
The title’s key work, ‘Champion’, is usually synonymous with high athletic achievers and sporting winners, but this creative shows how it has become used ironically across Aussie community sport in recent years. The kickoff campaign aims to realign what it means to be a champion and position anyone who looks out for the mental health of their footy mates as being a true champion.
The launch piece of creative, the first in a series of content pieces rolling out throughout the season, sees AFL Hall Of Famer and TYF Ambassador Nathan Buckley teamed up with TikTok and Instagram influencers ‘Shepmates’ (Archie and Miles Shepard) to launch the 2024 season campaign.
Launched on 4 March, days ahead of the AFL kickoff, ‘Be A Champ For Your Footy Mates’ is led by a comic spot staring footy legend and programme endorser Buckley and social media stars ‘The Shepmates’ in a video that underlines the importance to players, coaches and clubs about investing in their mental health.
TYF x Shepmates Season Launch video from Tackle Your Feelings Australia on Vimeo.
The spot and supporting social content seeks to drive people to the non-profit’s web hub to book a mental health workshop and find out more about the project.
“Our program is open to players in 2024, so our marketing needs to shift to meet young people where they are. We wanted a social media video rich with community footy references, using a humorous tone to make the key messages stick. Working with Adroitly, Bucks and Shepmates had a lot of fun bringing our message to life. I have no doubt they will collaborate again because the creative juices were flowing!”
TYF Program Manager Adam Baldwin
“We’re rapt to be on board helping share the vital message of mental health in suburban footy clubs – a place we spend a lot of time in ourselves! It was great to work with Bucks and we’re looking forward to him coaching this year at Crib Point… wait… does he know that yet?”
Archie & Miles Shepard (Shepmates)
“We’re thrilled to be asked by TYF to bring greater awareness to their community mental health program. Our strategy is to target the players themselves to take action on behalf of their club rather than overwhelming the busy volunteers on local club committees. To achieve this, we’re confident Shepmates and Bucks will cut through, provide a few laughs, and encourage action.”
Adroitly Founders Ben Lucas & Wade Kingsley
The wave of Tackle Your Feelings work was developed with the client team of Adam Baldwin, Ben Guthrie, Dan Mahony, plus ambassador Nathan Buckley and Archie and Miles Sheperd, with the campaign crafted by a team at agency Adroitly led by Ben Lucas and Wade Kingsley and support from Lara McLaren at McGruther McLaren Talent Management.
‘Tackle Your Feelings’ is a free mental health training program for community football players and coaches, as well as committee members, umpires and other club support staff. The initiative was jointly formed by the AFL Coaches Association, AFL Players’ Association and Zurich Insurance in 2018.
The program is delivered by a local psychologist and aims to help participants gain the tools to ‘Understand, Recognise and Respond’ to signs of mental ill-health in their players and is based on the education delivered to the AFL industry.
Previous TYF marketing content from earlier in the year included legendary professionals and grassroots player fronted videos.
A Tackle Your Feelings story: Daniel Gorringe from Tackle Your Feelings Australia on Vimeo.
Tackle Your Feelings – 2023 highlights from Tackle Your Feelings Australia on Vimeo.