Communicating Mental Health with Empathy and Impact
How Lloyds Bank delivered a sensitive message that built trust, equity, and engagement
Talking about mental health—especially during COVID-19—requires care, credibility, and emotional intelligence. Lloyds Bank partnered with Mental Health UK to launch a national campaign focused on community support and mental well-being, and turned to Monet to ensure the message resonated respectfully and effectively. This case study shows how behavioral and emotional testing helped Lloyds understand which creative moments built connection, which audiences responded most strongly, and how an equity-led message can still drive meaningful brand impact.
How should brands talk about mental health without causing harm or disengagement? The challenge was evaluating whether the creative delivered empathy while reinforcing Lloyds' role as a community partner.
Primary Takeaway: When handled authentically, community-oriented advertising can deeply engage vulnerable audiences and strengthen brand equity—especially among younger women and those experiencing mental health challenges.
What This Case Study Covers
Brand & Creative Development for Sensitive Topics
How should brands talk about mental health without causing harm or disengagement? The study evaluated whether the creative delivered empathy while reinforcing Lloyds' role as a community partner.
Audience-Specific Impact
Measured how different cohorts—especially Females under 35 and individuals with COVID-induced mental health concerns—responded emotionally and behaviorally.
Equity vs. Action Trade-Off
Assessed how an issues-oriented campaign performs compared to product-led advertising.
Our Approach
Behavioral + Survey Measurement
Monet combined real-time behavioral signals with survey responses to provide a precise picture of ad impact across four core metrics:
What We Pinpointed
Attention – focus and arousal
Engagement – emotional uplift and positivity
Action – motivation toward the brand
Monet Score – full-funnel effectiveness
Creative Comparisons
Scene-level emotional diagnostics
Moment-by-moment analysis of emotional peaks
Brand association strength tracking
Audience segmentation by demographics and mental health concerns
Key Insight
Introducing a relatable brand representative immediately after the most emotionally uplifting moment helped reinforce the partnership message without breaking emotional flow.
What Improved Performance
Females under 35 showed significantly higher engagement and action scores
Mental health-concerned viewers exhibited highest engagement levels
Creative approach was uplifting—not distressing—for affected audiences
Equity-led messaging showed potential for downstream business impact
Segment Learnings
The spot primarily functioned as a strong attention and equity driver across total population. Females under 35 showed significantly higher engagement and action scores, with equity-led messaging demonstrating potential for business impact. Mental health-concerned viewers exhibited the highest levels of engagement and motivation, proving the creative was uplifting rather than distressing.
Results Snapshot
Key Segments
Emotional Peaks
Top Audience
Response Type
What This Enables for Brands
Make creative decisions with confidence:
Build trust without triggering negative emotional responses
Identify which audiences benefit most from equity-driven messaging
Optimize scene sequencing to reinforce empathy and credibility
Strengthen long-term brand equity while supporting communities
Want to know which scenes are helping—or hurting—your ad performance?
Let's test your creative early and optimize it for the KPIs that matter. Download the full case study now.