NEVER DANCE ALONE-A-THON

Principal Investigator: Audrey Wubbenhorst

Research Assistants: Nikita Ravi and Robert Van Horne 

Prepared by Ka t i eThompsonSoc ia l Med ia Manage r Approved by SusanWi l l i amsMarke t ing Manage r Last updated: June 26, 2020

Funded by:

https://www.humber.ca/research/

Kids Help Phone is Canada’s only 24/7 e-mental health service. Itoffers free, confidential support, in English and French, to youngpeople across the country. Kids Help Phone gives millions of youth asafe, trusted space to communicate via phone or text with its CrisisText Line. The Crisis Text Line was launched in 2018 and was the firstnational texting service and 24/7 live chat available in Canada. Eachday, over 1000 youth reach out Kids Help Phone in times of need. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kids Help Phone sawa surge in calls and texts from Canadian youth. Due to socialdistancing measures in place, Kids Help Phone pivoted and created thevirtual Never Dance Alone-a-Thon with the help of its sponsors. The following case study will look at the planning, communicationsand execution of the Kids Help Phone Never Dance Alone-a-Thon,powered by the Bank of Montreal (BMO).

@KidsHelpPhone

@KidsHelpPhone

@KidsHelpPhone

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OVERVIEW

Website and Social Media Accounts

neverdancealone.ca kidshelpphone.ca

@KidsHelpPhone

@KidsHelpPhone

https://www.instagram.com/pusaterisfoods/https://twitter.com/PusaterisFoodshttps://www.facebook.com/Pusateris/https://twitter.com/KidsHelpPhone?lang=enhttps://twitter.com/KidsHelpPhone?lang=enhttps://www.instagram.com/bauerhockey/?hl=enhttps://www.instagram.com/kidshelpphone/?hl=enhttps://www.facebook.com/KidsHelpPhone/http://covid19communications.ca/http://neverdancealone.ca/https://kidshelpphone.ca/https://www.linkedin.com/company/kidshelpphone/?originalSubdomain=cahttps://www.instagram.com/bauerhockey/?hl=enhttps://www.youtube.com/user/KidsHelpPhone

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The COVID-19 pandemic forced Canadians across the country intosocial isolation. This caused a surge in young people experiencingstress and anxiety, leading to an increase in the volume of calls andtexts received at Kids Help Phone. From mid-March to May 2020, Kids Help Phone saw an overallservice increase of 63 per cent by text and 55 per cent by phone.This increase was believed to be because of increased isolation,school cancellation and social distancing requirements, leavingCanadian youth feeling more isolated than ever before. In Montreal, Que. in particular, Kids Help Phone reported that 68 percent of conversations focused on isolation. In Toronto, theorganization found that eating and body image dominated 67 percent of calls received. However, COVID-19 was the focus of 30 percent of the total text message conversations received across all KidsHelp Phone resources.

Kids Help Phone sees an increase in use due toCOVID-19 pandemic

F o r m o r e c a s e s t u d i e s , p l e a s e v i s i t : c o v i d 1 9 c o m m u n i c a t i o n s . c a

Annual fundraiser goes virtual

With social distancing and isolation measures in place, the Kids HelpPhone team knew that its annual fundraiser, Walk So Kids Can Talk,would have to be reinvented. With the increased reports of isolation, theorganization was determined to find a way to bring people togetheramidst the isolation of the pandemic. After collaborating with an agency, Kids Help Phone decided to moveforward with the virtual Never Dance Alone-a-Thon event powered byBMO. The event was scheduled to take place on Sunday, May 31, 2020.

http://covid19communications.ca/

Covid19communications.ca spoke with Kids Help Phone EventsManager, Megan Philpot, who stated that the key to the event's successwas the immediate support received from its sponsors. She stated thatthe sponsors they had worked with in the past were fully onboard withthe idea. A full list of the event sponsors can be seen in Figure 1.1. Before launching the event, Kids Help Phone created a website for theNever Dance Alone-a-Thon with information for participants anddonors. From the website, individuals could join a team, register as aparticipant or sponsor already registered participants. The homepagealso included information on how to participate in the event from thecomfort of your own home.

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The FAQ(s) page included sections: registration, fundraising, rewards, taxreceipts and event day. These sections provided information from whereparticipants could get pledge forms to where participants could uploadtheir videos. Kids Help Phone provided information on the event website on how to bea successful online fundraiser, encouraging people to share theirpersonal stories and the reason why they are participating in thefundraiser. Kids Help Phone began promoting the event on its own social mediapages on Friday, May 1 as seen in Figure 1.2. Its main sponsor for theevent, BMO, began to promote the event on its own Twitter page with ashort video on May 19.

FIGURE 1.1 List of sponsors for Never Dance Alone-a-Thon event (Source: neverdancealone.ca)

http://neverdancealone.ca/http://covid19communications.ca/https://twitter.com/BMO/status/1262830383118209031http://neverdancealone.ca/

With the fundraiser moving online, the pledgeform was available directly through the NeverDance Alone-a-Thon website. The websitealso included a warning that if participantswere going to approach people for cashdonations to practice safe social distancingtechniques when doing so If cash or cheques had already been collected,the website stated to use the BMO branchlocator to find the BMO location closest tothem. Once there, a customer servicerepresentative would be able to deposit thecash or cheque directly into the Kids HelpPhone account. A deposit slip would then beprovided to the participant that they wouldhave to attach to their pledge form and mailto the Kids Help Phone office in Toronto.

To encourage donation collection, there was a reward system in place for the amountcollected by participants. It was clearly stated by Kids Help Phone that the awardswould only be mailed out once social distancing protocols were lifted in the province ofOntario. On the day of the event, participants were asked to upload a video of themselvesdancing on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat or TikTok. Kids Help Phoneencouraged users to tag the organization @KidsHelpPhone and to use the hashtag#NeverDanceAlone in the caption.

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FIGURE 1.2May 1, 2020 tweet from Kids Help Phonedebuting the Never Dance Alone-a-Thon

Fundraising methods re-invented

Image source: @KidsHelpPhone Twitter

http://neverdancealone.ca/http://covid19communications.ca/https://twitter.com/KidsHelpPhone?lang=en

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People flock to social media to join the Never DanceAlone-a-Thon

On May 31, 2020, social media platforms were flooded with videos ofindividuals, teams and families participating in the Never Dance Alone-a-Thon. BMO executives took to LinkedIn to upload their at-home dance videos.Some BMO branches decided to get creative, debuting their lip syncingand dancing talents in combined videos. Sports teams such as MajorLeague Soccer’s (MLS) Vancouver Whitecaps joined in, sharing a shortclip of one of their players dancing while teammates cheered him on. Links to the videos mentioned above, as well as some from generalparticipants, can be found below. Dan Barclay, CEO, BMO Capital Markets Vancouver Whitecaps FC Brandon, Manitoba Main Office Branch Group Candace Allixendir, Communications Leader, BMO Financial GroupHoman Cheung, Participant

FIGURE 1.3Promotional poster for the live event hosted byAirMiles

Kids Help Phone alsocollaborated with publicfigures and Air Miles for aspecial Facebook live event onthe same day. The eventfeatured musical performancesand appearances by celebrities.The poster promoting theevent can be seen in Figure 1.3.

http://covid19communications.ca/https://www.linkedin.com/posts/barclaydan_drake-neverdancealone-proudtoworkatbmo-activity-6672858232349896704-K5m8/https://twitter.com/WhitecapsFC/status/1266459295333244929https://www.linkedin.com/posts/nasmalik_neverdancealone-proudtoworkatbmo-bmo-activity-6672876950559698944-GpI-/https://www.linkedin.com/posts/candace-allixendir_neverdancealone-proudtoworkatbmo-activity-6672932689919705088-ruiQ/https://www.tiktok.com/@homancheung1?u_code=3j9hb3me51i47&preview_pb=0&language=en&_d=d35cjcd7l81glh&share_item_id=6833074923246865670&timestamp=1593114573&utm_campaign=client_share&app=musically&utm_medium=ios&user_id=84251591876227073&tt_from=copy&utm_source=copy&source=h5_m

Philpot stated that the goal of the Never Dance Alone a-Thon was to“break the internet” and to fill social media with positivity during anunprecedented time. By spreading joy through the act of dance, Kids Help Phone was ableto remind Canadian youth that they are not alone in their personalstruggles. This unique event also brought unity at a time when manywere feeling isolated, showing that anything is possible with thesupport of our peers.

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Image source: kidshelpphone.ca

http://covid19communications.ca/http://kidshelpphone.ca/