Check out the video or read the details below on this fantastic innovation.

Background

The Home office wanted to convey a difficult message to a historically hard to reach target audience: Ad16-24's.

Government messaging is also treated with cynicism, so necessitated use of a brand that held credibility.

The Brief

Change attitude and behaviour to binge drinking and reduce alcohol related crime targeting Ad16-24s. To infiltrate peer groups and engage them on their terms to provide positive messages.

The Big Idea

Q. How do you reach the most evasive audience and communicate a positive message that many may not want to hear?

A. Use a brand they know and trust. Tell real-life teen stories. Appeal to their creativity. Allow them to communicate the message on platforms they love.

Using Hollyoaks & Channel 4's strong connection with 16-24s we became part of their world. Channel 4 made bespoke programming with a positive message to change attitudes to binge drinking. The campaign had longevity and high frequency. Social networks were key to infiltrating peer groups and had real impact in their conversations. The 8 week campaign ran from June-July 2009 and had three distinct elements:

1) An exclusive Hollyoaks online drama was created. 'Hollyoaks - The Morning After the Night Before' followed the exploits of a group as they left Hollyoaks for a four week jaunt in Manchester. The hard hitting storyline centered on issues specifically highlighted by the Home Office such as women in vulnerable situations and alcohol related aggression.

Integrating the online and broadcast elements was a first for a British soap. The story began in Hollyoaks on C4 (TV) then shifted to E4.com/Hollyoaks (online) where fans followed the drama through 12 episodes, also available on Youtube and iTunes. 

2) Comprehensive campaign site - a support site was created and included behind-the-scenes videos, galleries, features and cast profiles. It dealt with issues surrounding binge drinking through blogs, quizzes and articles.

3) Bebo profiles - characters featured on Bebo where they wrote blogs, posted photos and videos allowing Bebo users to engage with characters by commenting on their profiles and messaging them.

Results

Across the board the results were great. The campaign deepened the audience' experience of the story/characters and enabled a higher level of engagement.

• 1,000,000 video views across all platforms, YouTube, Bebo, E4.com
• Watched by 55% of the E4.com Hollyoaks audience

C4 conducted a 3 stage quantitative / qualitive research study to explore the effectiveness of Hollyoaks across platforms before, during and after the campaign:

• The project helped change attitudes to binge drinking - 55% of binge drinkers agreed the storylines made them likely to consider whether they should drink differently

• Encouraged debate - conversation volume around the drama and key issues was high on all platforms (over 4,500 comments)

• Communicated particularly well with those whose drinking patterns identified them as binge drinkers and most at risk

• The drink-related storylines have provided a positive viewer experience: considered to be believable and impactful, Viewers could identify with the characters and situations

• The research showed the online episodes targeted a particularly relevant subgroup within 16-24 - female, younger, heavier drinkers

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