On International Men's Day 2015, CALM partnered with TOPMAN and Octopus Investments to spread the message across London that suicide is the biggest single killer of men aged under 45 in the UK. We handed out 23,000 limited edition 'Mind The Chap' Oyster card holders, which were snapped up in minutes at participating zone 1 train stations. Here's exactly what went down on the day in as brief a fashion as we can muster... (and details of how you can get your hands on what's left are at the bottom of this post!)
'MIND THE CHAP’ IN NUMBERS:
23,000 wallets – went in record time (approx. 1 hour per shift)
12 stations: London Bridge, Waterloo, Southwark, Bank, Liverpool Street, Farringdon, Blackfriars, Holborn, Tottenham Court Road, Oxford Circus, Piccadilly and Leicester Square
79 volunteers
2 shifts: 08:00 – 10:00; 17:00 – 19:00
'MIND THE CHAP’ IN CONVERSATION:
Volunteers said…
“so rewarding to have several people to stop and ask what it’s all about and then when they hear the explanation saying thank you for doing it”
“uplifting to see the overwhelming positive response from early morning commuters”
“Awesome!!!” “Yayy!!”
“Had a blast! Will do it again when you need me”
If you would like to join this enthused bunch doing fun and worthwhile things for CALM, please click Volunteer and register your interest.
On Twitter…
After Nyne magazine (45.1k followers, 6 RTs) tweeted a picture of the card holders and RKZ (4,261 followers) tweeted pictures of volunteers and card holders multiple times using the hashtag.
‘Mind The Chap’ and the hashtag was used by CALM stalwart Eddy Temple-Morris (14.6k followers & RT’d by Lynx).
'MIND THE CHAP’ IN THE MEDIA:
City AM.
City AM p.2 opinion piece.
London Live broadcast interview with CALM’s Head of Trustees, James Scroggs, and CALM writer, Will de Groot.
BBC News guide to International Men’s Day.
PR Week mention.
‘MIND THE CHAP’ IN PICTURES:
Check out CALM’s Facebook album for all the pics.
CALM would like to extend particular thanks to TOPMAN, Octopus Investments, Bellenden, and all the volunteers, ambassadors and writers that helped to make this campaign happen.
To all of you who have asked about where you can get your hands on a Mind The Chap card holder and/or T-shirt, here's how...
If you would like a T-shirt, or a T-shirt and a card holder, please email edward@thecalmzone.net with your postal address, T-shirt size & colour preference, card holder colour preference (please note, we may not be able to accommodate your request but we'll do our best) and details of payment of the £10 donation to CALM. You can pay easily via Just Giving online.
If you would just like a card holder, please email edward@thecalmzone.net with your postal address and card holder colour preference (please note, we may not be able to accommodate your request but we'll do our best) - a donation is not necessary, but of course always gratefully received.
Sizes & colours currently available (fastest fingers first!)...
T-shirts:
Blue - 2x M, 2x L, 3x XL
Dark Grey – 5x M, 12x L, 5x XL
Light Grey – 2x M, 10x L, 4x XL
Oyster card holders:
Grey - 91
Purple -92
Violet - 87
Pink - 105
Turquoise – 85