Drugs
Developing an effective social marketing campaign to help
reduce drug use amongst young people
Today
• Lessons from the past
• FRANK campaign – launch and building the brand
• FRANK touchpoints - having a conversation with
young people about drugs
• FRANK and behaviour change – reducing drug use
• Case studies – cannabis and cocaine
• Campaign effectiveness
• FRANK ‘Tips’ on communicating with young people
Lessons from the past
Lessons from the past
The world of drugs campaigns (left) contrasted heavily with the world of drugs
that most young people talked about (right)
Lessons from the past
• Campaigns talked at young people
• They presented one side of the story = Advertising deceit
• Not relevant to their world
Young people deeply mistrustful of any drug messages from authority
figures
Lessons from the past
Not for profit sector talked with their audiences:
• People with drink problems have Alcoholics Anonymous
• People with depression have the Samaritans
• Children in trouble have Childline
Young people needed someone they could talk with about drugs; someone
who knew the score and could tell them how it really is.
Someone they could trust – a good guy in the world of drugs.
Lessons from the past
Creating the conversation
Effective social marketing builds on past lessons and is grounded in consumer insight.
We needed:
- To distance drug communications away from Government
- Much more than a campaign, we needed to build a brand – a
famous, empathetic brand with a clear persona that young people would
want to talk to
- A brand that would not lecture or patronise
Key insight: We needed a brand that would act like an older
peer or brother, that young people could trust
FRANK campaign – launch and brand building
FRANK was launched in 2003*
Open and honest
Warm and
humourous
Non judgemental
Liked
Expert on drugs
Trusted
* FRANK is funded and managed by the Department of Health, Department for Children, Schools
and Families and the Home Office
FRANK campaign – launch and brand building
Conversation starters
Talk about drugs – launch ad
Inquisitive kid - 2005
Gameshow - 2005
• Advertising established FRANK as the expert on drugs and encouraged
young people to contact FRANK if they had any questions about drugs. It also
helped to build the FRANK brand:
KNOW FRANK
LIKE FRANK
TRUST FRANK
FRANK touchpoints - Having a
conversation with our audience
FRANK touchpoints: Being there when our
audience wants to talk to us
Helpline
Email
Search
Website
Text
Literature in schools
Innovation:
Taking FRANK touchpoints to our audiences
FRANK touchpoints: FRANK Bot
Instant messenging facts
90% of 11-18 year olds use it
55% use it every day
nearly 20% use
it at least five times a day
FRANK touchpoints: Social networks
Face to face, interactive communications, to
reach the most vulnerable young people
FRANK touchpoints: Face to face
Street marketing
FRANK Bus – visiting schools
Stakeholder resources – guidance and collateral
Stakeholders linking local activity to
national campaign
FRANK touchpoints: What next?
A FRANK sim card maybe?
FRANK behaviour change model to help
prevent drug use – 2006 onwards
Attitudes
(Personal Vulnerability)
Behavioral
Intention
Previous
Behavior
Risk
Behavior
Subjective Norms
(Peers’ Behavior)
Behavioral
Willingness
Risk
Images
Social
Comparison
Key behaviour change insights that have
informed the FRANK campaign
Insight 1
If a young person has previously used a drug they will use this experience to
inform future drug taking behaviour
Behaviour can inform attitude
Insight 2
Communications can help prevent or stop the escalation of drug use
Contemplating
COMMS
Cannabis
COMMS
Class A
COMMS
New drugs
Insight 3
• Focus on drugs that the audience are most likely to come into contact with
and limit the level of exposure they have to messages on drugs that are not in
their world
• Over exposure to these messages may create the impression that these
drugs are common or ‘normal’ to use amongst their peer group (subjective
norms); a perception that may encourage drug use
Contemplating
COMMS
11-14
Cannabis
COMMS
15-18
Class A
COMMS
15+
New drugs
Insight 4
• Younger adolescents (11-14) are heavily influenced by the peer group and
social norms. Their drug taking is irrational, looking to the peer / social group
to inform their decision whether or not to use a drug.
• Older adolescents (15+) think more rationally about the risks of drugs and
their likelihood to use a drug is more informed by their perceived personal
vulnerability, rather than irrational peer / social group factors.
Contemplating
COMMS
11-14
Cannabis
COMMS
15-18
Class A
COMMS
15+
New drugs
Undermine image of
drug user
Perceived risk of drugs
Perceived risk of drugs Perceived risk of drugs
Creative and media strategies to help
reduce drug use
Two case-studies:
1. Cannabis
2. Cocaine
Cannabis
PROBLEM
Perception amongst
some young people
that cannabis is a safe
‘drug’
STRATEGY
Position cannabis as
a dangerous drug
KEY MESSAGE
Cannabis
can cause mental
health problems
Audience:
11-14 year olds who are considering using cannabis for the first time
or have used it occasionally
Cocaine
PROBLEM
STRATEGY
The new
party drug (most
popular Class A drug).
Surrounded by positive
perceptions of the
drug
Debunk
the positive
cocaine myths
by communicating
the darker side to
cocaine
KEY MESSAGE
There are social and
health risks to
using cocaine
Audience:
15-18 year olds who are considering using cocaine for the first time
or have used it occasionally
Evolution of FRANK to create behaviour
change
KPI’s
Awareness
Affinity / Trust
Increase in FRANK
touchpoints 2003-2010
Interaction
Perceptions
Attitudes
Behaviour
Change
Advertising between 200306 to establish the brand.
Trust means more
receptive to negative
messages
Shift from brand building
advertising to (more
negative) behaviour change
advertising (2006 onwards)
Success of the FRANK campaign – 08/09
results
Awareness
Affinity / Trust
Interaction
Perceptions
87% aware of the FRANK helpline
81% trust FRANK to provide them with
reliable information
341,972 calls to helpline, 3.46m web visits,
31,052 emails, 2.9m Bot conversations
Attitudes
Negative perception of a cannabis user increased from
7.2 in O6 to 7.7 in 09 (negative average out of ten)
Attitudes. The number of 11-14 year olds agreeing that
cannabis is very likely to damage the mind of someone
rose from 45% in 06 to 63% in 09
Behaviour
Change
73% said the advertising made them less likely to
take cannabis in the future.
Social marketing to young people –
‘Tips’ from the FRANK campaign
• Learn from the past (and others)
• Be honest and open with your audience to build trust – advertising deceit
will be rejected
• Be brave to do the right thing (based on evidence)
• Create a two way dialogue and relationship with your audience –be
interactive and make it easy for them
• Be clear on how you intend to create behaviour change and accept that this
might be a long process
• Understand their world; be relevant in your communications
• Use media to reach them at the right ‘moments’
• Set KPI’s to measure the effectiveness of your activity and its contribution
to behaviour change
Questions?