How do you get teens involved when you want to show them something they don’t want to hear about, and aren’t really interested in?
This was Premise Immersive Marketing‘s issue when working with a Partnership for a Drug-Free America. The Partnership works hard on research-based educational programs, and their focus has historically been on parent education. They have now launched a youth program, including programs such as Time to Talk.org.
Teens weight two attitudes towards drug use: the perception of risk, weighed against social approval. If there’s a high risk, and high disapproval, use goes down.
The Partnership needed a youth marketing program designed by an organization that really understood youth, including youth that never used, used occasionally, and used frequently.
Youth don’t respond to being preached, especially by adults. Peer-to-peer communication is ideal. It’s the #1 source of trusted information. It’s important to understand different learning styles too: auditory, visual, by reading and writing, and kinesthetic.
The program devised by Premise Immersive Marketing involved:
- 10 min video that appeals to visual learners; created in partnership with A&E and interviews real teens with real stories
- Card game appeals to kinesthetic learner; the goal is to facilitate a conversation in a group; four outcomes of the game: checked, wrecked, checked your friends, and intervention. The winner is the last player standing. So for example the group is asked if they’d take a pain killer prescribed for someone else. The answer is discussed.
- Group discussion for people that read/write to learn using the online resource. The Check Yourself web site allows the teens to follow up and get advice, for themselves and for their friends.
The results:
- Gets people involved, in engaging and talking
- Authentic and relevant to their lives
- It’s easy for an adult facilitator to use
The Web site is: http://www.checkyourself.org.