• by Les Luchter , Yesterday

Women play mind games with themselves in two videos marking online therapy service Rula’s first national brand campaign.

In one :30 spot, the internal back-and-forth is visualized during a chess match.

“It's such a time suck,” says one side of the woman about seeing a telehealth therapist. “It's literally just one hour,” answers her other half. “Every week, though,” bemoans the first. “So is Pilates,” answers the other.

Then comes a voiceover: “With Rula, getting affordable quality mental health care is easier than talking yourself out of it.”

In the other spot, a woman literally wrestles with herself over whether or not to start therapy.

A third spot in the campaign was unavailable for preview by Marketing Daily’s deadline.

“Too many people get stuck in their own head about starting therapy,” Rula CEO-Founder Josh Bruno explains to Marketing Daily, “but the truth is, getting support is easier than you think. At Rula, we’re focused on removing those barriers so people can take that first step.”

Rula, which began life as Path Mental Health in 2019 before changing its name two years ago, runs on an insurance-covered model that it claims lowers the average price of a therapy session to a $15 co-pay.

The campaign, which start March 23, is titled “Turn Off the Talk Track” and will run through year’s end. Paid ads will be seen on connected TV (Comcast, Disney/Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, YouTube), and digital media (Meta, Reddit, Spotify), and the campaign will also include social and PR aspects. 

The target demo? Despite those two videos -- and the static ad pictured above -- all depicting females, the audience is “anyone who may be considering therapy but hasn’t yet taken the first step,” the brand says.

That ad, incidentally, is part of a five-night activation also launching March 30 called “3am Therapy,” which offers “free therapy for everyone who’s awake wondering if they need therapy.”

To get the free therapy session, people must book the appointment between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. local time -- “when stress and overthinking tend to peak” -- which also happens to be the time range when Rula will be running a special series of “3am Therapy ads” in places where those targeted are already spending time. Those locations include YouTube, Netflix, Amazon, Meta, TikTok and Spotify, backed up by influencers and organic social postings.

The call to action is designed to reach people “in a moment when mental health is already top of mind,” says the brand.

“It's the middle of the night but you’re worried about the deep tragedy of existing… and did you accidentally tumble dry your fancy sweater?” asks the “3am Therapy” website.

Rula’s creative and media buying agency for “Turn Off the Talk Track” and “3am Therapy” is Mischief @ No Fixed Address.