beyondblue: Case study

January 20, 2016

Context

Six Degrees has partnered with beyondblue since 2013 as part of our commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility. We have been personally effected by the impact of mental health illness and realise the synergies between high stress/high performance environments and mental health issues. At Six Degrees we feel we are in a unique position to spread the beyondblue message in our community and to keep our clients abreast of workplace mental health issues. We felt most equipped to support beyondblue by helping them invest in their biggest asset; their people.

beyondblue had significant government funding to produce national campaigns with the aim to change the perception of mental health, influence workplace policies related to mental health and to influence societal behaviour. This meant their marketing and communications team needed to expand considerably to keep up with the workflow.
In 2015, beyondblue placed more emphasis on creating independent streams of revenue (away from Government funding which was subsiding) and building their engagement and fundraising teams. This included launching their first ever tax time appeal, build their donor database and introducing greater capacity for corporate partnerships. This was something Six Degrees were delighted to help with from a talent acquisition and recruitment perspective.

Solution

Our specialist Not-for-Profit consultant, Lyndsey Walker, worked closely with the beyondblue executive team to source a new Head of Marketing, and subsequently build a substantial campaigns team consisting of six professionals. Six Degrees were able to access a wide pool of candidates in commercial markets as well as Not-for-Profit talent to provide fast, efficient and creative marketers to work on the campaigns and manage agency relationships. It was important to beyondblue to get a mix of both.
The relationship was built on a deep knowledge of their culture, an understanding of their workplace, a proven track record in the Not-for-Profit space and clear expectations. This included site tours and in-depth meetings with all levels of management in fundraising, marketing, brand, digital and communications.
Six Degrees has placed over 20 professionals at beyondblue, some in permanent positions, but the majority in contract positions to drive events and major, nationally recognised campaigns.
Given our exclusive, long-term partnership, Six Degrees consultants have intimate knowledge of beyondblue, resulting in roles being filled first time every time with the right talent.

Benefit

Six Degrees has been able to access a vast array of talent from commercial, Not-for-Profit and government sectors which has proven invaluable to the beyondblue team in the development and execution of multiple national campaigns.

Six Degrees is very proud to have assisted beyondblue on their quest to build their internal talent capability. This has allowed them to spread their message successfully across a number of segments in Australia.
For Six Degrees the partnership with beyondblue has given us the resources necessary to develop our own mental health policy and EAP (employee assistance program), as well as getting the opportunity to participate in tailored workplace health training for employees, managers and directors.
We have also partnered with beyondblue on a number of events including a CEO round table discussion on the benefits of implementing mental health policy hosted by Jeff Kennett.

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