STAMMA dials up the dread

Created by Iris Worldwide for STAMMA, the UK charity for people who stammer, this campaign features a visceral, cinematic film, directed by Joseph Mann through BLINKINK, that expresses how the everyday act of a phone call can become a terrifying ordeal.

Titled Don't Hang Up, Hang On, the film features a grotesque gremlin-like hand that crawls from a ringing phone — a chilling embodiment of the fear, impatience, and misunderstanding that people who stammer often face. Mann used a real hand-built puppet rather than CGI to keep the horror tangible and grounded. 

“Phone calls can be a real nightmare for people who stammer,” he says, “we wanted audiences to feel that pressure — and to remember, when there’s silence on the line, to hang on, not hang up.”