Active Minds x MTV: A.S.K
THE BACKGROUND
In the lead up to Mental Health Action Day, SHOWTIME/MTV Entertainment Studios and youth mental health nonprofit Active Minds wanted to meet young people where they hang out and create a digital ecosystem to equip them with the skills and confidence to provide emotional support to their friends.
At the project’s core is the A.S.K. framework – Acknowledge, Support and Keep-in-Touch. This easy-to-use approach equips users to navigate supportive conversations, similar to how ‘stop-drop-and-roll’ empowers people to handle fire safety. Importantly, the framework is applicable for anyone, not just young people, and can be used in everyday situations.
THE EXECUTION
To spark widespread interest in A.S.K. and connect with young people online where they frequently spend their time, we created two engaging online experiences: an interactive YouTube video and a website.
The ‘choose-your-own-adventure’ style video placed viewers in the shoes of Charlie, our protagonist, guiding them through a conversation with friend Luna who is experiencing a tough time. Each decision point for the viewer – presented via clickable thumbnails and title cards – gave an opportunity to apply and practice the A.S.K. framework, with the narrative flow branching based on the chosen response. With a branching narrative comprised of 22 videos, viewers chose their own path. All the paths ultimately converged, resulting in all viewers learning the full A.S.K. framework, regardless of the choices they made.
We created the interactive video using YouTube’s end card feature. We also embraced the beta ‘multi-language’ feature which allowed us to include voice-over narration in multiple languages, as chosen by the creator, providing an accessible listening experience.
To complement the video, we created a mobile-first website that offered a concise explanation of the A.S.K. framework. Interactive features included SMS-based and chat-bot-style conversations with Charlie, an ‘emotions wheel’ to explore feelings and a calendar reminder tool for checking in on friends. The website’s design incorporated a story-like landing page with parallax animations, divided into chapters that reflect the A.S.K. acronym. Users could also download social media shareable: a customizable checklist promoting healthy friend support practices.
THE RESULTS
The transformative goal of this project was to empower people of all ages to show up for their loved ones and have more open and supportive conversations. By fostering empathy and essential communication skills, it has the potential to create a lasting, positive shift in how we navigate everyday emotional interactions and adapt our approach to mental health.
THE CREDITS
Pitch team
Mindy Lubert - Director of Production / Erin Ray - Executive Producer / Weronika Kuc - Creative Lead
Yifei Chai - Executive Director / Le Ngoc Hai, Lu Te-Hsing - Creative
2D Designers: Carlos Ramirez, Florencia Pavan, Zeynep Baysan, Gosia Borkowska, Jessica Pezenti, Sophia Gubar
3D Designers : Aquiles Adrianza, Fabio Sai, Julio Villarreal Castellanos, Luis Palaccios, Sean Kim
Production team
Erin Ray - Executive Producer / Alice Pelot - Producer / Charlotte Favre Duprez - Project Manager
Strategy
Francesco Bagni - UX Lead / Sebastian Ervi - UX Designer / Magda Domagała - Content Strategist
Creative
Shelley Adamson - Creative Director / Weronika Kuc - Creative Lead / Mitch Fernandes - Art Director
Pola Lucas - Illustrator/Storyboarder/Animation lead
Riccardo Carusi - Illustrator / Jessica Pezzenti - Illustrator / Andre Boyd - Character Animator
Daniel Felipe - Character Animator / Łukasz Schaefer - Motion Design / Szymon Łucarz - UI Designer
Rebecca Pacun - Copywriter
Dev Team
Victoria Bissengué - Tech Lead / Javier Velazquez Traut - Tech Lead
Tomasz Madej - Front End Dev / Patryk Ordon - Front End Dev
Sarabjeet Singh - Full Stack Dev / Błażej Rybczyński - Back End Dev
Abirafdi Raditya Putra - Back End Dev
QA Team
Magnus Rolen - QA Lead / Pani Nicola- Senior QA Tester / Pritty Gilbey - QA Tester
Others
Genevieve Trepanier - Sound Editor / Nadaa Baqui - Sound Editor
Ionut and Maciej - Client GCP account set up / UNIT9 Finance team
The Sheridan’s Legal Team - for investigating a QA phase trademark issue
Vendors
Elizabeth Creighton (Brazen) - User Testing / Simon Little - Sound Director
Andrew Lee - SEO Specialist / Javier Torres - Spanish Translator
