BAHA: The Gavin Turner Organization
by Fiona Martin-Muir
by Fiona Martin-Muir
Problem:
Two classmates and I were given the challenge of creating a brand backed by a fictional recognizable figure.
Strategy:
We came up with Gavin Turner: the comedian, actor and mental health activist. Gavin was faced with bipolar disorder as a teenager and chose to deal with his mental illness with laughter, and eventually a comedy tour touching on mental illness. Specifically dealing with bipolar disorder, depression, schizophrenia, attention-deficit hyperactive disorder, anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder, Gavin created BAHA (Behavioural Awareness/Acceptance of Humanity Association) which plays on the synonym for laughing. His comedy tour which is backed by his BAHA association, makes light on mental illness and attempts to gain acceptance of it. We chose to do so because numerous comedians have admitted to dealing with mental illness, but have yet to use the subject mental health in their routines.
We came up with Gavin Turner: the comedian, actor and mental health activist. Gavin was faced with bipolar disorder as a teenager and chose to deal with his mental illness with laughter, and eventually a comedy tour touching on mental illness. Specifically dealing with bipolar disorder, depression, schizophrenia, attention-deficit hyperactive disorder, anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder, Gavin created BAHA (Behavioural Awareness/Acceptance of Humanity Association) which plays on the synonym for laughing. His comedy tour which is backed by his BAHA association, makes light on mental illness and attempts to gain acceptance of it. We chose to do so because numerous comedians have admitted to dealing with mental illness, but have yet to use the subject mental health in their routines.
Creative:
To promote BAHA, in a meaningly politically correct way, I created a set of advertisements portraying that just about anyone could have a mental illness by using iconic and recognizable cartoon characters and labeling them with an illness. The ads would be shown as bus wraps, hitting our primary audience of lower to middle class adults aged 18-45.
