Seattle Children’s uses a Gen Z-style PowerPoint deck to talk to parents about teen suicide

For a few years now, teenagers in the U.S. have been making PowerPoint presentations for their parents—as a more formal (and thus perhaps more effective) way of asking for something, like a puppy for the family or the pricier items on a Christmas list. Now, the Gen Z PowerPoint has come to advertising, but for a more sobering reason. A TV spot from Seattle Children’s Hospital, airing during the Oscars this weekend, uses a PowerPoint-style presentation to address the issue of teen suicide. Created by agency Little Hands of Stone, the 60-second spot opens on a computer screen, as a teenager clicks to open a file called “Scary Not Scary.” “Ok. Hi, adults,” she says, sounding nervous but resolved. The rest of the ad features one slide after another, with the teen disarmingly making the case that parents shouldn’t be scared to ask their kids about suicide. All the while, the sentence “Are you thinking about suicide?” flashes over and over. The tone is certainly a departure from typical mental-health PSAs—it’s much more direct and informal. Given the topic, the agency knew it had to speak in an authentic Gen Z voice to break through. The young creative team of Erin Miller and Kelley OHare worked on the campaign, and the agency also ran it past young people to gut-check ideas and sharpen the voice of the writing. “We shared an initial version that was was snarkier and more joke-y with a group of teens,” said Matt McCain, co-founder of Little Hands of Stone. “They shredded it. To them, it needed to strike a much more empathetic tone with their parents. They genuinely felt for their parents and their discomfort about talking about mental health. Their input helped a ton.” In many ways, the spot was crafted to be uncomfortable—based on the logic that only by facing that discomfort can parents get past it, and have these difficult conversations with their kids. “We started playing with flashing the question on screen over and over. It made us viscerally uncomfortable,” McCain said. “That discomfort was our sign that we had to confront our fear—and that of other parents of teens.” “It’s a form of exposure therapy,” added Michael Boychuk, LHoS’s other co-founder. Ad Age Young Creatives Boychuk’s personal experience with suicide also informed the campaign. His birth father committed suicide when Michael was a child. And about six years ago, Michael’s daughter was in in-patient care at Seattle Children’s for a suicide attempt. That experience convinced Boychuk he never wanted to hide from talking to his kids about mental health. “The instinct when talking to parents about teen suicide is to scare them into action,” McCain said. “But we knew the reason a lot of parents don't talk to their kids about suicide is they're already scared shitless to ask. We had to reduce that fear. We had to take some of the weight off of that question. And the only voice that could do that was the voice of a young person.” “It’s so important for adults to talk to the young people they love about suicide, whether they think they’re in crisis or not,” added Candi Nicholson, director of brand and creative services at Seattle Children’s. “Our goal is to make these conversations easier.” “Scary Not Scary” will air in four states throughout the Northwest, including during the Oscars on Sunday. The media buy includes 60- and 30-second spots for broadcast and streaming, as well as PSA distribution.

Seattle Children’s uses a Gen Z-style PowerPoint deck to talk to parents about teen suicide

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