Just over a year ago, SAMH, one of the country’s leading mental health charities, asked us to help tackle the seemingly un-tackleable. Thanks to hard-won progress, most of us are more aware of mental health than ever. But awareness alone isn’t enough.

When someone is living with mental illness, the world can often appear supportive at first, but then quietly disappear from around them.

Friends stay friends, but reach out less. Colleagues say they have your back, but distance themselves when things get tough. Even family can build barriers over time, often to protect themselves. All of it can lead to one thing—

Isolation.

So we helped SAMH create a campaign not just to raise awareness, but to show a nation how to show up and take action.

To give the Wee Pink Dot national visibility, the campaign featured familiar Scottish voices including Chris Hoy, Des Clarke, Duncan Scott, Jean Johansson, Jennifer Reoch, Len Pennie, Sammi Kinghorn and Sean McDonald. Across social, OOH and PR, the tiny mark became a visible signal of support.

Introducing Wee Pink Dot

How do many of us remind ourselves to do something? We jot it on our hand. And the pink dot has been a symbol living right there in SAMH’s identity for years.

So we identified a simple idea, a visible action anyone can take. A wee pink mark on the hand and a share on all the socials for others to do the same. How easy is that?

The Wee Pink Dot is a powerful, ownable symbol, backed by insight and scalable to any budget, by anyone, anywhere.

And more importantly, it’s a simple sign to others, perhaps suffering silently, that you’re an ally. But it’s also a reminder to keep showing up for people living with mental illness.