To celebrate Friendship Day today (Tuesday), UKTV's Dave has created the first "comedy festival in an ad break" in aid of Campaign Against Living Miserably.
The four-minute spot, "Be the mate you’d want", features 17 comics – including Lou Sanders, Natasia Demetriou, Alex Horne and Phil Wang – as they recount anecdotes about friendship in a movement against suicide, which is the biggest killer of men under 45 in the UK.
Luke Hales, channel director at Dave, said: "We want to use Dave’s reach to encourage people to get in touch with friends who need a reminder that someone is thinking of them and someone cares. The comedy festival in an ad break is a unique Dave way of doing this.
"Funny and warm, and ultimately by encouraging men to reach out to their friends, we are supporting CALM’s mission to create a more positive and open culture when it comes to mental health."
The campaign first kicked off last year, featuring promos on Dave, out-of-home ads, social media and radio activity, branded beer mats and coffee cups, as well as a Dave/CALM Conversations Against Living Miserably podcast, which reached the top 20 on the iTunes chart for comedy.
Simon Gunning, chief executive of CALM, said: "We’re delighted to bring the next exciting phase of the ‘Be the mate you’d want’ campaign with Dave and UKTV to life.
"Comedy can be a fantastic platform for what may have traditionally been deemed difficult conversations around mental health and being there for your friends when things get tough. This partnership allows us to reach a broad audience with a funny and entertaining execution, all underpinned with an important message throughout."
It was created by UKTV Creative and directed by Tom Corbett through UKTV. The spot will air tonight at 9:12pm during Taskmaster.
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