The Alcohol & Drug Foundation came to us with a worrying statistic: underage alcohol consumption by high school students was on the rise and most young people were getting the stuff from their parents. The research showed that well-meaning parents don’t always realise how harmful alcohol can be for the developing adolescent brain, so we knew we had to approach this integrated campaign with a gentle tone to inspire behaviour change – finger wagging wasn’t gonna cut it.

To empower parents to discuss underage drinking with their teens, we created a metaphor where the night sky symbolises the teenage brain, making the audience realise the importance of protecting youths from the risks of underage drinking during this pivotal life stage. The campaign was rolled out across search and social and digital OOH, and complemented with a Stakeholder Toolkit.

A post-campaign evaluation study showed that a positive spin on this tricky topic resonated with the audience. Highlights included a 35% reduction in parents who thought it was acceptable for under-18s to drink a small amount of alcohol supervised and 47% of parents reconsidered planning to supply alcohol to their kids. Message received!

My role:

• Ideation

• Campaign development

• Scriptwriting

• Asset development (SEM content, social and digital OOH)