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5 Tips To Improve Your Mental Health At Work

Work plays an incredibly vital part in many people’s lives, so it’s no wonder that work can sometimes be a triggering factor that impacts our mental health.

With work taking up a significant part of our life, it’s important to know how best to tackle the harder parts and stop to think of some key things that can positively impact your mental health whilst at work.

Here’s our 5 tips on how to improve your mental health at work:

• Taking time to talk

This might seem like an obvious one but much of our working day is focused on getting the work in hand done. We now live in a very much hybrid-working world, where sometimes half of us are in the office and the other half might be working from home. For some, they are completely logged in online. In between work calls, meetings and quick chats about projects – why not schedule in some general catch-up time? Have a cup of tea break with one of your favourite co-workers. Schedule an online quiz for an afternoon to have a natter and some fun. Whatever it is, taking the time out to talk to the people we work with can be a massive help to others and for yourself.

• Exercise

It’s no secret that sitting at a desk all day, every day isn’t good for your health whether it’s mentally or physically. For a lot of people, the daily commute into the office is a chance to get out and about and lots of people look forward to their 20-minute walk to the workplace. But working from home may mean you can neglect those exercise breaks. Our advice is to schedule some exercise into your every-day routine whether you work from home or the office. Studies have shown that even taking a ten-minute brisk walk at lunch time for some fresh air can massively impact your mood! So, no – we’re not asking you to join that scary CrossFit gym round the corner from you. But a little movement to your day could go a long way.

• Take A Break

Like taking a break from your desk to take part in a bit of exercise, it’s great to take a break just for a little time for yourself – whatever that may be. Listen to a podcast, catch up on your favourite TV show for 30 minutes or just generally relax! Also, regular holidays or taking time off using your annual leave is another way to reset your mindset and having a well-deserved rest from work. Don’t feel guilty to book your annual leave – it’s what it’s there for.

• Do something you love

Tapping into the parts of your job you really love and enjoy can be a great way to positively impact your energy and mental reflection in the work you do. Being able to identify the parts of your own personality and what interests you then weaving this it into your work is something plenty of us can do. For example, being an organised person and a lover of a spreadsheets – perhaps you could head up the project management of an ongoing campaign? Or love yoga? Why not set up a work-yoga class for everyone to enjoy? There’s no reason why your interests can’t flow into your working life, so embrace them!

• Ask for help

If you feel you’re really struggling with your mental health, there is no shame in being able to ask for your help from your workplace. There are tonnes of resources and ways in which your workplace can help you. Being able to talk it out and speak openly with your workplace will make you feel better, so that you and them can work out a way for you to thrive at work happily once more.

Check out these free guides from Mind for you and your workplace to have:

https://www.mind.org.uk/workplace/mental-health-at-work/taking-care-of-your-staff/employer-resources/wellness-action-plan-download/

Veganuary is coming to a close. And whether it inspired to go vegan, try more vegan foods or now name yourself firmly in the ‘flexitarian’ camp – it’s always interesting to see how brands advertise during this period.

We picked our some of our favourite campaigns across the month of Veganuary!

M&S – This is not just M&S food, this is VEGAN M&S Food

It’s got all the parts that we’ve come to enjoy about M&S TV adverts. The slow pan shots of the outrageously delicious food, spooning saucily here and there into bowls of Mac and Cheese and watching it as it hypnotises. Though everything you see is Vegan!

Quorn – The Resolutions You Can Keep 

Quorn are arguably one of the best known meat substitute brands in the country. As years have gone by however, more brands have got on board with offering a meat free option so it comes as no surprise that Quorn wanted a big, in-your-face, disruptive style  advert across Veganuary to remind all who’s boss!

Veganuary – Getting Bigfoot Involved 

If Bigfoot can do it, surely can’t you? The Veganuary movement itself took to online and across TV to showcase their animated Bigfoot telling us why HE chooses to be vegan and the positive impact on our planet.

It’s great to see the difference in approach across a vast range of brands and we look forward to 2022 where we will no doubt continue to see more adverts directed at the Vegan-curious!

According to YouGov, 1 in 7 of us in the UK have made New Years resolutions with a whopping 49% of those pledging to dedicate more time to health and fitness. (https://yougov.co.uk/topics/lifestyle/articles-reports/2021/12/29/what-new-years-resolutions-are-people-setting-2022)

One of our New Years resolutions was to get out and about on a lunch time walk everyday 🚶‍♀️
What better companion for your walk than a podcast?

We work with all kinds of suppliers of Podcasts, but working with Acast made us realise just how much is on offer in the world of podcasting.

They have a wide range of categories to keep those walkers company – from Business to Games & Hobbies right through to Comedy.

We help our clients use this space to get to the ears of those eager listeners  who are likely to be listening more than ever during their January commitments to themselves! Whilst they may be cursing that 45 minute walk at lunchtime with the unpredictable British weather, they’ll still be sticking in those headphones and going for a stroll.

Brands are able to sponsor podcasts with Acast in a variety of ways, through having adverts slotted into listeners favourite podcasts at the beginning, middle or end of their podcasts (also known as pre-roll, mid-roll and post-roll) or actually having Host-Read sponsorship. This enables the presenters of the podcasts to actually endorse a brand or product with the voices of those much loved downloaded pods!

Compared to TV or radio, podcast advertising requires a significantly lower ad load. That means greater share of voice for brands and sponsors within each episode, less noise, and listeners who are more receptive to your messages.

Ads in podcasts are part of the overall storytelling, seamlessly integrated into the narrative. They’re perceived as less intrusive, so listeners have less inclination to skip them, compared to traditional media. (Acast, 2021)

Acast are also home to some of the best loved podcasts in the UK from Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place,  The Guardian podcasts, Football Ramble and Jessie Ware’s Table Manners. Advertisers are able to target locally with their message so it’s not just UK wide brands that just benefit either.

If you’re interested in finding out more about how your business or brand can start advertising via Podcasts then speak to us. CMe prides itself on being an arm of your marketing team and we are able to plan your podcasting campaign from start to finish so you don’t have to do any of the heavy lifting.

Looking back on 2021 is an interesting one. It wasn’t as eventful as 2019 or 2020 for myself and the business and it’s felt almost like we were on a new upward journey.

I think the words ‘Give me a break please’ were frequently muttered under my breath and in my head. Bittersweetly, I think it makes us more resilient and the tests are there to help strengthen yourself, your business or your role.

We’ve adjusted like most businesses and re-built parts of everything from systems to the structure of our team. The sound of Teams ringing all day long and the daily schedule of Zoom or Teams invitations is the new norm. The labour has certainly been arduous and tiring yet very rewarding when you look back at how much has been achieved by everyone. We’re one in millions of businesses who have had to take stock and reshape, and if I’m honest I there are many things I don’t like at the moment (or perhaps it’s just getting used to them). Many things still need to change and sometimes it takes much longer than anticipated which can feel so frustrating.

That aside, there have been some great highlights after the turbulence.  Welcoming new talented colleagues into the CMe Media team has been one of them. The team exude passion and they have huge experience which is a necessity when you pride yourselves on delivering the excellent service that we expect.

As I’ve mentioned before in many social posts or on our website, we are fortunate to work hand in hand with growing and expanding businesses. Despite the pandemic, we’ve seen some fantastic growth stories. From new stores/branches/dealerships to those advancing into new territories to grow market share.

We were proud to be a part of launching the very first British Motor Show in years after 2 years of waiting. The hurdles the events industry have been faced with and the true resilience of Andy Entwistle whom, I’m sure at times was being tested to his limits with whether they could hold an event or not at the 11^th hour. What a show. The footfall for an event at such a strange period of our time was incredible and we were delighted to be their media buying agency.

We are looking forward to many more exciting campaigns, projects and developments next year. I’m sure we are no different from everyone in saying that we’d like to see the back of COVID and move forward with our plans.

I want to thank our clients for their valued support and we wish them and their teams a happy Christmas and New Year.

Charisse x

Do you ever think about Santa and what he does to fill the rest of the year? The way I see it – sure, he’s got a tremendously stressful 48 hours across that Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. But the truth is, old Saint Nick feels rather… Redundant for the rest of the year. And don’t buy the hype that he’s checking those lists once and then another time for good measure (he’s got some admin Elves for that) Nope. Santa has plans to take up a new business in 2022 and you guessed it, we’re doing the advertising.

When Santa first came to us with his idea of branching into swimwear, we were sceptical. We’d never imagined that we’d be sitting in a board meeting with him in the first place. But now, here he was showing us his range – from bikinis to swimming shorts to a rather alarming pair of budgie smugglers.

“Santa’s Swimwear” will be available in May 2022 and to gear up towards the launch we discussed the perfect ideas that would get his brand at the top of consumers’ minds. The brand is aimed primarily at 21-35 year olds and he openly said, “I want everyone wearing this swimwear in Summer 2022, is there any way we can get a pair of the pants sent to Wayne Lineker?” Hmmm leave it with us.

First of all, we knew that we had to set aside a plan of his digital marketing. No business is fit for consumption without a website, so we secured his domain straight away and worked with our graphic designers and web developers to create him a spanking new website fit with the ‘Coming Soon’ slogan dripped across the homepage.

Now before we can implement SEO and PPC campaigns (something we will begin to drive at the start of Spring next week) we began to build brand awareness where we know the 21-23 year old audiences are present. Here’s what we proposed:

TV Campaign – Sky Adsmart & ITV Sponsorship

Our vision is to have a campaign where we introduce models of all shapes and sizes to show that Santa’s Swimwear is a cool, diverse and open brand that anyone, everywhere (naughty or nice) can feel comfortable to wear this brand. Santa himself was very open about this, “Everyone knows that I’m a ‘bigger’ guy and for many years I felt like I couldn’t be seen around the heated pools at Lapland without my full Santa kit on. I want to break the stigma when it comes to having the perfect beach ready body for summer. This swimwear says have the mince pies, be yourself and you can feel great doing just that.”

With that in mind, we’ll be shooting the video to encompass that vision and we’re working with our partners at Sky Adsmart to bring Santa a very targeted campaign. We’ll be targeting the 21-35 year old audience, potential holiday makers and tracking whether they’re placing an order after being served our audiences.

Not only that, but we’ve teamed up with ITV and secured the sponsorship of the summer. You guessed it. Love Island! Across linear TV and ITV Hub, we will be securing Santa’s Swimwear as the lead sponsor.

Audio – Radio, Digital Streaming & Podcasts

Were you aware that Santa is a massive Kiss FM fan? Yeah, us either. Apparently he blasts this from his sleigh when doing the rounds on Christmas Eve and it would appear all the reindeer, most of all Rudolph – absolutely love it. I’m still curious as to how he doesn’t wake us up….

Anyway, we know that given the Santa Swimwear audience we should be tapping into the audiences that hail from the likes of Kiss FM, Capital FM and Capital XTRA.

We also proposed digital audio advertising platforms such as the Octave and DAX platforms where we’ll be able to offer further insights into the listener habits after hearing an advert. These platforms also allow us to be more granular in our geographical targeting and much like Sky Adsmart – we would be able to tap into key data points of the potential customers of Santa Swimwear.

Outdoor

We have fantastic relationships with our Outdoor advertising providers and we know that we need to get Santa Swimwear on the map in multiple key locations around the UK. We want the country to know that Santa has changed his image and what better way to showcase this on those D48’s UK wide? On the run up to their release date, we will be using some teaser artwork to get ready for the swimwear drop and once live we’ll be sending viewers of the outdoor to the website to find out more.

TikTok & Instagram

No campaign of this nature is complete without diving into the world of social media and putting Santa Swimwear the top of mind to its consumers. Across your social media platforms, expect to see Influencers getting involved with the brand because we’ll be working with a variety of TikTokers and Instagrammers to bring Santa’s vision to life.

Santa did talk to us about doing some Tik-Tok dances he’s recently finessed with some of the Gen-Z elves that work in the workshop. When we asked some of the elves for comment on what these routines were like and if Santa was any good at the actual dancing itself – they refused to comment.

In the TikTok and Instagram space we can also create bespoke ads to live within the timelines of the Santa Swimwear customer. The idea being we will target this as an national campaign, tapping into the age profiles that are relevant for each platforms and pinning some variations of our TV campaign into this space.

We can’t lie, we’re over the moon to be the provider of Santa’s next venture and once we got over the initial shock of it being a swimwear brand – we’ve warmed to the idea of sunning ourselves next summer in Santa’s Swimwear with a bottle of beer in our hands.