Today, nothing is as personal and emotional to us as our phones. But although we’re using them to communicate 24/7, we feel worse mentally – not happier. Mean tweets, rude comments and hatred are all in the palm of your hand, and studies have investigated the possible links between social media and smartphone usage with poor mental health.
To address this, Sinch has teamed up with Mental Health America (MHA) to build the world’s first texting switchboard, #TextForHumanity. The new service, developed by Sinch, the global leader in cloud communications for mobile customer engagement, lets people send a positive message to a stranger – and receive one in return.
Strategy & Execution
As a leader in cloud communications, Sinch wanted to do something that would help address the spread of negativity online. It was time our mobile phones, which we use 24/7, started to love us back. We used something as simple as a text message - a solution anyone, anywhere in the world can use - and supercharged it with Sinch's proprietary tech.
Our creative and account teams worked closely with Sinch’s internal tech team and MHA’s experts to turn their existing texting conversation bot into a switchboard, combatting online negativity and promoting the sharing of positive messages by connecting people all around the world.
We launched Text for Humanity just before the most depressive day of the year, Blue Monday – through media exclusives and influencers in several countries. It quickly started to grow with close to no media spend reaching far and wide across the globe.
Outcomes
In a time of hateful comments, false news and increased stress online, we showed that mobile communication can be a solution, and not only the problem.
- +500,000 positive characters sent and received 
- +85,000 positive messages sent
- +50,000 social media shares
- Messages sent and received from 85 countries on all continents 
- +470M media reach
- +300% increase of business inquiries to Sinch