Launching the UK's first dedicated mental health cafe to market

Launching the UK’s first dedicated mental health cafe to market

pieces of coverage

>315M

impressions

THE ASK

Meet Leila Zafar…

Leila is the Project Manager at Living Well Group – an EV. client and one of the key partners behind the region’s very first dedicated mental health café: grounded.

An idea dreamt up by Living Well Group’s CEO, Ben Howells, the grounded. approach is to bring dedicated professional mental health and wellbeing support to the public, in non-clinical, welcoming community spaces, like cafés. Delivered in collaboration with mental health charity Birmingham Mind, social enterprise Evolve, and funded by NHS England, the project was pioneering.

Having worked with the Living Well Group since 2019, EAST VILLAGE. has supported the team with PR and wider marketing support around a number of projects – from a dedicated mental health phoneline during the pandemic; to grant-giving for grassroots organisations improving the city’s wellbeing – but grounded. was different… This was an entirely new project, that had no brand and no blueprint to springboard from.

Our objectives were to:

Create a stand-alone brand that felt both professional and approachable, that all key partners felt reflected them
Build brand awareness and recognition for grounded. with its multitude of potential customers, driving footfall
Prove proof of concept – paving the way for future grounded. cafés – by tapping into the demand for therapy and communicating the support offered at grounded

THE RESULTS

Excited by the creative freedom and the ability bring this new concept to life, EV. got stuck in to creating brand concepts – including logos, straplines, colour palettes, and tone of voice – as well as stakeholder mapping, copy for all key partners to align on, marketing collateral and brand assets and press opportunities.

The brand concept that EV. created is now well recognised in the city and grounded. Has enjoyed huge success in its first year. Since the first opening in Selly Oak in 2023, grounded. has now opened its third site within a year; adding properties in Hall Green and the Jewellery Quarter – one of the city’s central districts – to its offering.

In that time, EV. has also secured over 70 media mentions for grounded.; not only regionally – across print, online, and broadcast channels – but nationally too. From case studies and on-site interviews with the team; to photo galleries and ‘first looks’: the buzz for grounded. has been huge. What’s more, footfall has been consistently high since doors opened, thanks to EV.’s support with OOH advertising, direct letter marketing, and influencer engagement.

Most importantly, grounded.’s three sites have had a profound impact on the local community. In the first 12 months, the footfall has been in the thousands and there have been over 50 self-referrals made on site.

THE IMPACT

The EAST VILLAGE. team is excellent at what they do. They take the time (although they’re so switched on it doesn’t take them long) to really understand our mission and then use their creative and colourful minds to turn it in to engaging campaigns. They ask the right questions to ensure they’re using as little of our time as possible – and they write things in a way that is magic… taking complex messages and simplifying them in to articulate and engaging written pieces.”

Leila Zafar, Project Manager, Living Well Group