We burned teenagers’ food to get their attention, and it worked.
Client
City and County of Denver
Project
High Costs
Deliverable
Ambient
Creative
Media
Outdoor
Social
Video
Web
High Costs
Amélie worked with the City and County of Denver to tackle the hard task of talking to teenagers about weed, and even more difficult, getting them to listen. We focused on empowering them to make responsible decisions, ignoring our adult inclinations to lecture.
Challenges
Following the 2014 legalization of marijuana, the City of Denver saw the need to reach and educate the younger generation. We were tasked with creating a platform devoid of scare tactics and parental-esque finger-wagging. After all, it’s hard enough to get a kid’s attention. We didn’t wanna waste it.
Solutions
Through intuitive research, we discovered that teenagers don’t actually want to be told what to do, especially regarding marijuana. Imagine that. They want to be given the facts to make their own decisions. So, we appealed to them using tiny footballs, game shows, burritos and the occasional burnt pizza, and let them come to their own conclusions.
Results
Since launching in December 2017, the campaign has amassed over 256 million impressions—64 million of those are earned media, with over $4M in publicity value. But more importantly, we fueled conversations among teens about the risks of using marijuana at an early age, using quirky, unexpected comparisons like burrito consumption and an inflatable airman. In a survey of youth aware of the campaign, 81% said it discouraged them from using marijuana. Presto, Change-O.
