Every year, the city of Antwerp deals with the consequences of illegal firework activity. Especially youngsters need a reminder that it is not only forbidden, but may actually be dangerous and have a lasting, negative impact on their lives. For the second year in a row, The Other Agency was asked to develop a targeted campaign for the end of year, to support the city of Antwerp in its efforts.
Most youngsters have difficulty gauging any negative consequences of their actions. Instead, their imagination tends to focus on the positives only. So how do we convince them to stay away from illegal fireworks? By making the risks as concrete as possible and having our target group experience them, well before any actual damage occurs. Or in other words: having those who are resistant to hearing the truth, actually feel it.
For our 2023 campaign we chose to focus on a common risk: hearing damage. Especially relevant for our target group, who like to live life wearing headphones. Youtube, Netflix, TikTok, Spotify … their daily online fix requires sound to be enjoyed. Imagining a world with hearing damage is abstract, until – BANG – fireworks go wrong, and tinnitus – a constant, persistent high-pitched noise – becomes your reality.
To communicate this, we had local content creators imagine what life would be like if you’re affected by tinnitus. Through short videos on their social media channels they raise awareness about the challenges this would pose and about the lasting impact of lighting your own fireworks. This peer-to-peer contact helps keep the message authentic and prevents potential eye-rolling at governmental communication.
Next to this, we developed a copy campaign with the line ‘Setting off fireworks blows your ears to sh**’. A clear and concise message, which was conveyed through out-of-home billboards and at info points near fireworks hotspots.
This first campaign wave turned out to be so successful that the city of Antwerp requested a commercial that would run at all Antwerp cinemas during the Christmas holidays. Here too, we chose to make our message as palpable as possible, by starting the spot with an extended tinnitus beep.
Compared to its media spend, our campaign saw unparalleled results. Over 200,000 citizens were reached, with 25,000 comments, likes and shares. An above-average engagement rate of 15%. The influencer campaign received positive reactions from the audience and our out-of-home assets and cinema commercial comfortably reached their goals of informing and raising awareness. Not only did they score high on likeability, 3 out of 4 people stated that the campaign made them more aware of the risks of illegal fireworks and of Antwerp’s efforts to prevent them from happening.
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Meir 12
2000 Antwerpen – Belgium
BTW BE0736.374.807
