Best Purpose-led Content: Children fall under the influence before you do

Agency: Hyper

Client: Av-og-til

Award: Best Purpose-led Content, 2023: Gold

Brief

“Av-og-til” is an organisation for sensible use of alcohol, where the aim is to reduce the negative consequences of alcohol use. They work particularly in areas where alcohol poses a risk or can be a disadvantage for oneself or others. The most important area of focus is the use of alcohol when spending time with children and young people. The Institute of Public Health in Norway estimates that 90,000 children grow up in a home where mum or dad drinks too much alcohol. For them, alcohol is a major threat to a safe childhood. But the negative consequences of alcohol affect more children, because alcohol is often consumed in situations where children are present. Holidays and public holidays are special risk situations.

Insight and Challenge

Wine has become the new chocolate. We have become more continental in Norway, and good food often goes with a glass of wine. We have also acquired a culture where it is easy to say, “I deserve a glass of wine,” regardless of whether children are present. Children depend on secure adults and may react negatively when caregivers change. Many adults are not aware of how little alcohol is needed before children notice a difference and they become insecure. Having said that, we did not want to spoil the experience of good wine, but rather make the wine drinker aware of how small amounts of alcohol can affect children who are present.

But we had a challenge. If you see communication that is about your own drinking habits, it is easy to think that this does not apply to me. This time it's about the one extra glass that makes children notice you are a little different. We therefore had to think smart. We had to hit the target group at the right moment, in the perfect mode where they were able to take in the message and think, “Oh, this actually applies to me!”

Task

Raise awareness and motivate adults to reduce alcohol consumption in front of children and young people.

Campaign Period

Summer time and summer holidays in Norway.

Target Group

All adults, but especially parents and grandparents. That is, those who do not necessarily get clearly drunk in front of children.

Solution

We hit bullseye - and reached the target group when they were in the perfect mode. Because there is already a large arena where there is a lot of talk about wine and their characteristics. Where the language is self-defined, and where the use of words such as balance, aroma, fullness, oak flavor is normal. Guess who? The wine reviewers. And the wine reviewers have power, they are huge influencers, and the wine they review is quickly sold out at Vinmonopolet (the Norwegian monopoly for wine and spirits) .

By using one of Norway's most famous wine reviewers in VG (Norway's largest nationwide online newspaper), Sara Døscher, we created three different wine reviews for the summer, with a twist. In the movies, we used the classic wine jargon, but also incorporated the children's wine experiences. The contrast and element of surprise lay in the transition from what the viewer thought was a real wine review, to how it's actually experienced by the children: "a touch of sarcasm", "a tastefull experience of mum and dad as a little different" and "bedtime that is forgotten". The movies end with a concrete recommendation to drink zero, one or a maximum of two glasses when children are present.

The campaign consisted of three movies spread across social media. In addition, we had several native ads in the biggest newspapers. By using Sara Døscher in the native ads, we made a tactical and smart move. Because Sara has credibility on wine and by using a picture of her in combination with headings that were different such as, "A tasty mixture of insecurity and misunderstandings for the 4-year-old", we got people curious. They clicked on the ad and wanted to read more.

We also had print ads in the "A magazine" (Norway's most red paper magazine) and as a pure guerilla stunt, we posted wine reviews from the children's perspective in the wine app Vinify. This was done by creating a profile called: "Children's wine experiences". So every time Sara Døscher reviewed her weekly wines, we also reviewed the children's wine experiences of the same type of wine as hers. This way, the children also got a clear and visible voice, in Norway's largest wine app.

Results

This task could have been solved with a typical classic approach. Where you tell the story of a child who is not happy because adults drink. The challenge is that with such a classic story /creative approach, it is too easy for the target audience to think: "No, this does not apply to me. Because I do not drink too much." This time we reached out to those who like to drink good wine and who see drinking as culture, by using a wine influencer. And we reached out to those who don't necessarily get drunk in front of the children, but those who still have too little awareness of how they drink when the children are present. Like, one glass too many.

And with our creative twist and use of Sara our wine influencer, we got impressive results.

• We had over 3 million ad impressions. With a media budget of less than NOK 500,000 (43,450 euros)

• 1/3 of those who saw the campaign answered that they were influenced and actually changed their attitude and action. (Source: Response Analysis a quantitative survey, Norway)

• 70% and 63% answered that they agreed or completely agreed that the advertisements raised awareness of adults' drinking in the company of children. (Source: Response Analysis a quantitative survey, Norway)

• And 65% agreed or completely agreed that the films with Sara Døscher did the same. (Source: Response Analysis a quantitative survey, Norway)

• The native ads were read 20,000 times and had an average active reading time of 74 seconds. (Only available for 2 days of advertising.)

• On YouTube, the message was relevant and engaging, for over half who saw the ads chose not to skip after six seconds, but chose to watch the entire film.

Permanent Change

This is not just a paid campaign, but a campaign with permanent change. Because we also influenced Sara. In her own social media platforms the campaign message will stand as an eternal reminder: "Children fall under the influence before you do”. The app Vinify has also agreed to have three permanent campaign messages for “Av-og-til” visible in its app at all times in the future. All this, thanks to a good idea, with the best influencer. All this so that children can have a nice summer.