A group of women catch up in a park and ask a new mom how she makes it all look so easy. She credits her routine and her support system. Inside her head, the sleepless nights and daily struggles keep replaying. The film closes on one line: “There is no secret to motherhood. There are only secrets we’re keeping about it.”
The Question Every New Mom Gets Asked
The PSA, titled “What’s Her Secret?”, opens on warm, bright footage of a smiling mother with her baby beside a stroller. It looks like the version of motherhood that fills social media feeds. Her friends want to know how she does it, and she answers the way new mothers are expected to answer.
What Plays Out Behind the Smile
As she talks, the film cuts away to what she leaves out. A mother sits alone in a tiled hallway with her head in her hands. A close shot shows a postpartum belly, the part of recovery that rarely makes it into photos. As her inner chaos builds, the conversation fades out and the closing line takes over.
The spot leads “The Secret to Motherhood,” a new maternal mental health push inside the Ad Council’s Love, Your Mind campaign. It goes after the pressure on new and expecting moms to appear perfect, and tells them that difficult emotions and self doubt are a normal part of pregnancy and early motherhood.
Why the Silence Is Dangerous
About 1 in 5 moms are affected by a maternal mental health condition. According to the CDC, these conditions are the leading cause of pregnancy related deaths in the US. Suicide and overdose accounted for 27.7% of those deaths in 2022. Stigma keeps most mothers from getting help, and 3 in 4 conditions go untreated.
“The real secret to motherhood isn’t having all the answers. It’s knowing you don’t have to go through it alone,” said Heidi Arthur, chief campaign and program officer at the Ad Council.
The Creative Director Who Lived It
Mischief USA created the campaign pro bono. Bianca Guimaraes, the agency’s founding partner and executive creative director, had postpartum depression after both of her pregnancies. She has described spending hours pushing a stroller through the park and envying the childless people walking past.
“Those were thoughts I didn’t feel like I could say out loud,” Guimaraes said. “I loved my children deeply. I was also struggling deeply. Both things can be true.”
That experience shaped the film’s central split between what a mother says and what she is living through.
Where Moms Will See It
The campaign launched on October 1, 2026, ahead of World Mental Health Day, in English and Spanish. It runs across broadcast TV, online video, outdoor, radio and digital, all in time and space donated by media outlets. WPP Media handled media planning, and Datonics supplied audience data pro bono. Amazon Ads, Fuse Media, iHeartMedia, Kargo, Pinterest and Reddit are among the media partners.
Funding comes from the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, the Huntsman Mental Health Foundation, Merck for Mothers and the Perigee Fund.
A Gentler Voice From Sesame Street
The film runs alongside a lighter set of spots the Ad Council released with Sesame Workshop in May 2026. Those feature baby Elmo, baby Cookie Monster and their moms, and remind caregivers that they are allowed to have big feelings too. Both sit under the Love, Your Mind umbrella.
Where the Campaign Sends Moms
Every spot points to LoveYourMind.com/moms in English and ConAmorTuMente.com/mama in Spanish, a new hub of resources for new and expecting mothers. Dr. Rana Jawish of the Huntsman Mental Health Institute said maternal mental health challenges “are common and highly treatable.”
The campaign is betting that a mother who sees her own private moments on screen will be more likely to mention them to someone. The hub gives her a place to start.
Campaign Name: The Secret to Motherhood (“What’s Her Secret?” PSA), part of Love, Your Mind
Agency Name: Mischief USA (pro bono), with media planning by WPP Media
Brand Name: Ad Council
Location: United States (launched October 1, 2026)
