Standard Life, part of Phoenix Group, is for a second year in a row providing support to Samaritans with a series of activities ahead of Christmas, designed to ensure people know where to turn if they are struggling to cope during the festive period.
Funding of calls on Christmas Day
While Samaritans is busy every day of the year, we know the festive period can be particularly tough for some. To support those looking for someone to talk to, Standard Life will be helping to keep Samaritans services running on Christmas Day, when they receive an average of more than 14,500 telephone calls from across the UK and ROI. These calls can be hugely important to those struggling during what can be an isolating time and Samaritans is there 24 hours a day.
New campaign film highlights the help is available
To raise awareness of the support provided by Samaritans, Standard Life is also funding a TV ad which will launch first across social channels in November, and have then donated TV airtime to Samaritans in the lead up to Christmas Day. The film encourages people to support Samaritans at Christmas, and reminds the audience that they are there, if help is needed.
Samaritans training informs Standard Life’s vulnerable customer support
As a corporate partner for three years, Standard Life uses training support from Samaritans to train its employees on how to support customers in vulnerable circumstances and to listen with empathy. The training has been hugely valuable and Standard Life is seeking to extend the active listening principles to any colleague looking for help managing difficult or distressing conversations.
Standard Life has created an adapted version of the training* that has been rolled out to employees through an additional campaign film entitled ‘No one wants to talk to me’ that will be promoted across social media. In the film viewers meet Kevin who explains that no one wants to talk to him because ‘he’s a sign that’s something’s not right, or that something has gone wrong’.
As the film progresses it becomes clear that Kevin is a member of Standard Life’s Helping Hand team, a group of customer services representatives trained to deal with the most difficult situations customers may face such as a bereavement or serious ill health. He explains that like all Standard Life’s customer services team, he has been trained by Samaritans to provide the best possible support to individuals who are struggling and the film closes with a QR code encouraging viewers to learn more about how they can manage challenging conversations and listen more effectively
Richard Amos, Head of Corporate Partnerships at Samaritans commented, “We are embarking on an essential and ambitious programme of activity focused on recruiting and training more listening volunteers to meet existing demands and expand our service. Donations are critical in ensuring we can continue providing support for anyone struggling to cope. Our partnership with Standard Life has been hugely significant in raising both these vital funds and the awareness of the importance of listening across their customer support teams.”
Sangita Chawla, Chief Marketing Officer at Standard Life, part of Phoenix Group commented, “We know that the Christmas period can be a challenging time for many, and it’s incredibly important that people know where to turn. People also need the certainty of knowing that there will be someone at the other end of the phone to help, which is why I’m proud that we are supporting the operations and calls on Christmas Day.
“This campaign builds on our valuable relationship with Samaritans, who are instrumental in ensuring our Helping Hand teams are well-placed to support individuals facing some of life’s most difficult events. Through the use of our film, we’ve been able to extend some of the lessons we’ve learned to a wider audience in a different way, and give people greater confidence to support anyone in their lives who may be struggling.”
