• by Larissa Faw , September 20, 2018

Havas Chicago is raising awareness for September's National Suicide Prevention Month with an activation to physically represent the 121 lives lost daily to this mental illness.

The agency's Chicago office has set up 121 mannequins in the small lobby that visitors must navigate, helping to illustrate the uncomfortable truth that "while these mannequins are inconvenient, so is the truth about this topic," says Bobby Waltzer, creative director, Havas Chicago.

"We needed a call to action to get people involved in this installation."

Havas will remove one dummy for every $121 donated to the nonprofit Hope For The Day, or 121,000 likes using the #121ToNone hashtag.

The agency has also set up the "Bodega of Hope," where the Hope For The Day team members distribute additional resources and visitors can purchase Hope For The Day gear.

The installation was led by a team of creatives who worked in collaboration with the CEO of Hope For The Day Jonny Boucher.

"Every 40 seconds, someone in the world completes suicide. This is not something that we can ignore," says Waltzer.

Internally, Havas Faces, an employee-led diversity and inclusion group, is curating a month of activities geared toward preserving employees' mental health and wellness.

This past year Havas built a close relationship with Hope For The Day. In collaboration, the two companies have started Taco’bout Tuesdays, a discussion group in which Havas employees meet , eat tacos and talk about mental wellness.

Although this lobby installation is the first physical execution developed between the two parties, "this is just the start of something bigger," says Waltzer.