We need more men to speak to CALM and an ongoing shift in the culture of masculinity. Where do you start? We created a fake product to talk about a real issue. Reality star Chris Hughes, launched ‘L’Eau De Chris’, a mineral water infused with his own tears. Stupid, right? With the public and media in a frenzy, he revealed the real message on World Mental Health Day; L’Eau de Chris is ludicrous, don’t bottle up your feelings.

In the days before World Mental Health Day (10th Oct), Hughes posted a series of teasers on Instagram with the message; ‘Launches 10.10.17’. Then a glossy launch film – an over the top pastiche borrowing cues from the perfume category shot by Rankin –released on 9th Oct, alongside national OOH and Print to advertise the launch of his new project with Topman. All touchpoints pointed to the TOPMAN website where the product was listed as ‘sold out’. On 10th Oct, at a press event streamed live on Facebook, Chris revealed the charity’s message. That day, all campaign creative was swapped out and replaced with the call to action: #DontBottleItUp

120m Social impressions in the first 48hrs

91 articles of earned media covering the story

An 1800% increase of in traffic to the CALM website from 18-24 year olds

Suicides prevented by CALM’s webchat doubled in the month of the campaign