Most brands will post a green ribbon and call it a day. The ones getting it right are doing something radically different.
World Mental Health Day 2025 falls on 10th October, or Libra season for those who celebrate, and it’s an opportunity for brands to engage in meaningful conversations, break down mental health stigmas, and launch initiatives that genuinely benefit employees, customers, and beyond.
This is not the day for empty, performative posts. Instead, take inspiration from the brands who are getting it right. From midday surf breaks for employees to calming collaborations, here’s how brands are making mental health a priority for World Mental Health Day, and beyond.
One way brands can engage meaningfully in mental health awareness is by using World Mental Health Day as a launchpad for mental health-related marketing campaigns. Take WWF’s Prescription for Nature campaign, launched last year on World Mental Health Day. The WWF encouraged people to get a daily dose of 20 minutes of nature every day to improve mental health and reduce stress. Activities like strolling in a park, gazing at the night sky and creating homes for hedgehogs, were some of the activities prescribed by Dr Panda.
The WFF also partnered with a range of celebrities to widen the reach of this feel-good initiative. This whole campaign is clever, as it aligns perfectly with the WWF’S tagline of “When we restore nature, nature restores us”. Thoughtful, intentional and inspiring. Plus, this campaign is still running. This shows how a campaign launched on World Mental Health Day, can evolve into an evergreen marketing campaign. This is the blueprint.
Spotify’s Take a Beat campaign was also re-launched on World Mental Health Day 2024. This campaign embraced the healing benefits of nature too, as Spotify compiled a range of nature sounds to help soothe listeners — from nature-inspired albums to field recordings. Spotify partnered with Calm and Sounds Right to deliver and expand the impact of this campaign.
Spotify also put its money where its mouth is and donated to organisations working at the intersections of nature and mental health. Here’s the perfect example of how to launch a mental health-focused campaign on World Mental Health Day 2025.
Collaborating with other like-minded brands, organisations and charities for World Mental Health Day is a great way to maximise the impact and depth of your campaign. One especially noteworthy collaboration is between CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably), the suicide prevention charity, and Cupra UK, who recently teamed up to deliver Let Music Move You — an ongoing campaign which celebrates the positive impact that music can have on our mental health.
Together they released a series of short films, hosted music-focused events, and worked with key ambassadors and influencers to promote the positive impact music can have on our brains and bodies. These are all great examples of purpose-led activations that brands can get involved in for World Mental Health Day. This collaboration allowed both parties to tap into each other’s customer bases, expanding the reach and impact of this mental health campaign. Talk about a win-win.
Another meaningful way for brands to contribute to World Mental Health Day 2025, is to put your money where your mouth is. You could donate a percentage of your sales in October to a local mental health charity, or create a new product where all profits go to a community project you’re passionate about supporting. LUSH has recently created the fundraising product Watermelon Slice Soap, where all profits are donated to childhood mental health services in Palestine.
And in another bold brand move, in 2021 LUSH quit Instagram, as they were concerned about the impact of this app on the mental health of young people, and wanted to advocate for real policy change. This is what it means to truly champion mental health as a brand. We can all learn a lot from LUSH’s radical ethos on mental health.
World Mental Health Day 2025 is also an opportunity to reflect on your brand’s mental health policies, and to make meaningful changes internally. Here are some great employee-focused mental health initiatives to inspire you.
LinkedIn US has an annual ‘summer shutdown’ for all employees. This gives its teams time to relax, switch off and recharge for a few glorious days. This is one of the LinkedIn Life perks that employees can make the most of. Duolingo also gives all their US staff the last 2 weeks of December off too. On paid leave. Yes, please.
Snaptrip encourages its employees not to reply to their emails outside working hours. And they started this initiative in 2017 — legends. Companies like Allianz, Volkswagen and Siemens also have similar ‘right to disconnect’ policies. These protect employee’s mental health by allowing them to *actually* switch off.
The pioneer of cultivating healthy workplace culture and protecting the mental health of its employees, is the brand Patagonia. They’ve set the gold standard. Here’s one of the major perks of working for a brand that cares so much about employee wellbeing: they’re allowed to go and have surf breaks midday when the waves are good. Or enjoy any outdoor activity when the conditions are too good to resist. (Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia wrote a book called Let My People Go Surfing). Patagonia trusts its workers to meet their deadlines and get their work done, whilst giving them the freedom to enjoy their day. Sounds like heaven.
Patagonia employees also get 18 paid hours to do activist work a year. And they have access to personalized therapy too. No wonder Patagonia has one of the highest employee retention rates in the US. And if you want to take a leaf out of Patagonia’s book, here’s a great guide on how to support mental health at work.
The goal of World Mental Health Day 2025 is to “raise awareness of mental health issues around the world and to mobilize efforts in support of mental health”. There are so many ways that brands can do this, and this article shows just a few ways in which brands can authentically contribute to World Mental Health Day. And beyond. Because mental health should be prioritised and supported by brands and businesses every day of the year, not just on World Mental Health Day.
If you want more inspiration, check out our articles on Mental Health Month Ideas for your marketing calendar and how to look after your mental health as a creative.
