A discreet conversation room at a festival evolved into national Gen Z mental health project. Now provides qualified support incl via chat lines at events nationwide. Lives saved, brand strengthened
Mental health is the most expensive illness,costing the equivalent of two Norwegian health budgets. Prevention could halve these problems. Gen Z is bearing the brunt of this illness with 36% struggling. Insight: they don’t want companies talking about mental health, they want someone to talk to. Gjensidige created “The Breathing Space”: a discreet room staffed by mental health experts plus access to NGO MentalHelseUngdom’s (MHU) digital chats. Goals: 1.Safeguard lives, 2.Increase help-seeking through the Breathing Space, and 3.Strengthen Gjensidige’s standing with Gen Z. Concept awareness nearly doubled, impression improved: “Gjensidige cares about youth mental health, and they help prevent problems”. The platform is now widely deployed at festivals, sports tournaments, student weeks, a mobile conversation room, and a permanent installation at major national venue Unity Arena.
Most brands throw parties at festivals. Gjensidige built a safe space that saves lives. The innovation: placing professional mental help inside an EDM festival, unexpected but authentic. The Breathing Space flipped expectations by offering low-threshold, stigma-free conversations in noisy, high-stress settings. Impact metrics proved the model: +539% traffic to the campaign site, +75% increase in MHU help-chat use during Palmesus week. The creative power lay in combining small gestures (free water, calm design) with life-saving support. The innovation, part 2: Lowering the threshold and taking the conversation room to wherever the young audience were. The scalable format extended to sports sponsorships, cinema takeovers, a mobile “on wheels” version, and Unity Arena’s permanent room. Most brands create ad campaigns telling people how much they care. Gjensidige made a real difference, showed up, took the hard conversations and proved a brand can be both highly relevant and trusted.
