Bookmarks Against Suicide

The Samaritans, a nonprofit volunteer-based organization without the ad budget for billboards or citywide poster campaigns, went for stealth in Hong Kong. Thousands of bookmarks like these were "hidden" in unlikely places--convenience stores, libraries, supermarkets--where they could be discovered and taken home.

These bookmarks, with a suicide hotline number on the back and a photo of a despairing person on the front, were much more likely to reach the target audience than conventional media campaigns--severely depressed people would probably ignore glossy print ads in magazines, colorful stickers on storefront windows, and snappy television spots. By infiltrating basic daily routines with this clever guerrilla campaign, the Samaritans were able to communicate with an audience that conventional advertising might have had difficulty reaching. The ubiquity of these ads also raised awareness of the public health problems of depression and suicide.

Even with a bigger budget, I don't think these would work in a direct mail campaign. The guerrilla element is what gets people's attention more than the bookmark's design. How could this translate effectively into other media?