Excellence in the Communication of Survey or Market Research Data

Summary of work

It is well known that clinical depression is common, but the European Depression Association (EDA) needed EU policymakers to wake up to the fact that depression has a massive impact on workplace productivity and absenteeism, and hence the entire European economy. Our European survey of 7,000 employees and employers highlighted the vast scale of the problem – in this sample alone, there were 21,000 days of lost working time due to depression. In order to support the EDA’s public affairs campaign to prioritise depression in the forthcoming Health and Safety at Work strategy, we needed to raise awareness of the huge impact of depression on workers among EU policymakers. We used the survey data – the first of its kind in interviewing employers and employees – to create a media splash on European Depression Day, when EU policymakers were meeting to discuss the Health and Safety at Work Strategy. We achieved more than 1,000 articles, generating more than 550 million opportunities to view, with our key messages appearing in virtually all national newspapers in our target countries.

Judges comments

This was a really good entry with great media outcomes and the scale of the work was impressive. They really wanted to reach the Brussels community and did that very effectively through the national media. The research was solid and very well communicated, and it will be really interesting to see evidence of more tangible outcomes as they emerge over time. This is one to watch.