The stigma surrounding depression hasn’t gone away yet. And that breeds a lack of understanding about the condition because sufferers are too afraid to reach out for help. If they were to reach out, they would find that sadness isn’t the only symptom of depression. There are others such as difficulty concentrating and tiredness, which can feel isolating. And depression as a category is…depressing. It mainly consists of dark images and somber messages that sufferers don’t actually relate to.

Enter: Lighter Blue, an unbranded Facebook campaign that tells the story of Blue—a little guy with a big blue head who, like our audience, feels isolated and struggles to function due to depression. Blue and his friends use honest humor as a way to express the somewhat uncomfortable truth about depression.

Lighter Blue launched in 2016 and has rolled out over 100 simply illustrated posts and videos that talk about the funny truths of having depression, along with health tips, motivational sayings, news, inspiration and more. We chose Facebook as the platform for our campaign due to the broad reach of both the condition and the platform.

The most we expected of sufferers with such a stigmatizing condition was to view our page. But, we were so wrong. Lighter Blue became so much more than just a Facebook campaign—it grew into a true community for depression sufferers. Blue seemed to evoke an uncharacteristically open response from members who shared stories and offered words of support to each other…even though they’re all strangers.

This year, social engagements reached over 10 million, exceeding our goal six fold! Far from simply lurking, people were reacting (>8M), sharing (>1.5M), and commenting (>300K). One post alone generated over a million likes. This avalanche of social engagement told us one thing: we had unlocked a pent-up demand for highly engaging, relatable content and fresh education about depression.

And while this wasn’t the goal, it is the icing on the cake: We’ve become the most successful unbranded pharmaceutical Facebook page of all time.