Codemasters and Bidstack put mental health awareness messaging into DIRT 5, DiRT RALLY 2.0 and GRID.

Codemasters and Bidstack have one again partnered with the UK government and Public Health England to include public awareness campaigns in DIRT 5™, DiRT Rally 2.0™ and GRID.

The partnership will include geo-targeted banners (so only players in the UK will see the messages), which will replace text and images on trackside materials such as flags and billboards with mental wellbeing prompts developed by Public Health England, and the Stay Home message from the UK government.

“We’re delighted to continue being able to support government messaging, whilst we look  forward to lockdown easing,” said John Merchant, marketing director at Codemasters. “It’s  great being able to use our games to direct players to mental wellbeing advice. Even if we  can help just one person then this has been a worthwhile addition.” 

“We’re really proud to be working with the UK Government, Public Health England and our  partners Codemasters again to reach audiences that might not have engaged with these important messages across other media channels,” said James Draper, Bidstack’s CEO.  “Delivering health messages, and particularly those around mental wellbeing in what is a  trying time for many people, is something we are delighted our tech can offer. For those in  need of support it has the potential to make a huge difference.”

The “Stay Home, Save Lives” messaging was first added to Codemasters’ titles, in collaboration with Bidstack, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. We spoke with Charlotte Cook, VP of gaming at Bidstack about the campaign, and about socially-responsible messaging in video game advertisements.