Cracking campaign ESSENTIALS
In Australia, we’re about to enter what some would call ‘campaign season’ for safety and wellbeing. No, there’s no big election happening (hello to our USA friends who are well and truly in election campaign season). Instead, it’s that time of the year when we start collaborating on seasonal safety and wellbeing campaigns — usually for R U OK? Day and Safe Work Month.
We love this work. It’s a chance to mix our love for art and science to create those fresh, novel campaigns we know people crave. in fun, fresh ways.
For us, a really effective safety and wellbeing campaign can be boiled down to a few essentials.
Essential #1
Know your audience
What do you know about the people you’re trying to communicate with? Beyond the usual demographics (age, gender, education level, and so on), what else do you know? What motivates your audience? What do they value? How do they normally engage with safety and wellbeing messages? Are they influential within your organisation?
Modern workforces are incredibly diverse. However, having an understanding of the different personas that might exist in your organisation can help communicate in new ways.
It’s why we’re massive advocates of the science-based approach of human-centred design. Using it to create safety engagement, training and learning — well, it’s hard to go wrong.
We used this same approach to develop a recent campaign with one of our collaborators in a federal government agency. After taking time to speak to and understand our audience, we identified what channels they preferred to use and the kind of messages that resonated with them. From this, we developed a ‘Safety Swipe’ game, which used the gamification tactics adopted by popular dating apps. However, instead of prospective partners, the message was all about safety controls, with users swiping right to select the right behaviours, and swiping left to remove dangerous actions. Safe to say, it was a match made in human-centred paradise.
Essential #2
Leverage storytelling
Our favourite psychologist working in the safety industry — Dr Ali Dale — constantly wows us with her knowledge of brain science and human evolution. One thing working with Ali has reinforced for us is just how powerful storytelling in safety is. As humans, we’re wired to be part of a tribe — and few things connect with the tribe better than stories.
Stories are how we naturally share and interpret experiences, pass on knowledge, record history, entertain each other and, of course, influence change. Well-told stories paint a vivid picture of what a journey may look like. Plus, it compels those around us to join in and support this change.
But don’t just take our word for it. Neuroscientist Uri Hasson conducted a series of experiments to see what was going on in our brains during a story. He found that, when an audience understands and relates to a story, their brainwaves synchronise with the storyteller. In fact, his studies demonstrate that this synchronisation became stronger the more context the storyteller provided. Not only is this a great little ‘did-you-know’ fact for your next dinner party, but it’s also a bit of science that’s easily applied to your next safety and wellbeing campaign.
You don’t have to stop there either. Tapping into your team to share safety messages can give a powerful boost to your campaign. Mixing up the voices snaps people out of corporate message habituation (hey, it happens) and makes it harder for people to gloss over important information. And, of course, leaning into well-told stories about safety can translate complex and abstract concepts into tangible, memorable and easily digestible content.
Don’t believe us? We created the below video on this very topic. Click play and let us know if we lured you in….
Essential #3
Make it visual
While we’ve all got different levels of language proficiency (some of us are better at words than others), our brains love visual elements like illustrations, photographs, animations and icons. These handy devices make even the most complex information easy to digest, which can be life-saving in the world of safety.
It’s why we pay as much attention to the design of our campaigns as the messaging. Let’s see what our Design Director, Inteus Burton and Creative Director, Thom Rogers have to say about making comms even more visual.
Teus
“A campaign’s visual language is as important as the key messages. It can reinforce the idea, and help people immediately understand information — some of which can be quite complex. And while reading is a learnt skill, understanding visual messages is natural. Even a slight colour shift can completely change how people receive the message.”
Thom
“Our creative platform isn’t just about making our strategy ‘look good’. It is an essential part of the strategy. After all, what are words on a page if they’re left unread? Plus, people notice visuals first. So it’s usually the most impactful way to get their attention.”
Bold colours, fun characters, big text. It doesn’t need to be a Picasso to make an impact.
Sometimes big, colourful, and clever copy will do the job. We did one such campaign for Australia’s largest infrastructure and essential services organisation.
Which one caught your attention first? Ronaldo, Keanu, Dwayne or Taylor?
So just the three essentials, then?
Let’s be honest, these aren’t the only elements behind a cracking campaign. However, our brains like us to deliver lists in threes, so here we are.
If you’d like to try something different for your upcoming safety or wellbeing campaign, now’s the time to book a disco call with us. We’re already doing a bunch of R U OK? Day and Safe Work Month campaigns for different organisations — so the creative ideas are flowing.
