Don't Sweat it

Building a bold brand and promotional giveaways to reach your audience... When it comes to creating a brand for a sexual health service for young people, you can't be backward in coming forward – it needs to be big, bold and in your face.

That was the main requirement of the new chlamydia testing awareness campaign we worked on with NHS South East Essex – develop a look and tone of voice for the brand that spoke to the key audience of 16-24 year olds and helped encourage them to get tested and stay safe.

CREATING HIGH IMPACT OUTREACH EVENTS THAT TAKE THE MESSAGE OUT ON THE STREETS...

The central drive of the 'Don't Sweat It' campaign was to increase the number of tests being completed by 16-24-year-olds in the region. This led us to develop a series of events to take testing to the streets and to actively seek out participants in their 'natural habitat'. We worked with NHS South East Essex to identify core dates and locations across the region and subsequently liaised with local councils to secure suitable venues for each event. This resulted in a broad mix of college and nightlife hotspots, which enabled the campaign to reach the maximum amount of people.

GETTING THE MESSAGE OUT THERE – THROUGH A FOCUSED ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN...

Having a high impact brand – and adverts – is fantastic. However, it doesn't help to grow awareness unless it is seen in all the right places. As 'Don't Sweat It' was aimed squarely at the 16-24 market, the campaign was targeted to hit that audience, with a central drive of the advertising delivered on bus advertising across the region. This approach not only took the brand out on the road to generate blanket awareness in the general population, but it also focused on routes around colleges and schools – perfectly matching the relevant criteria.

TRANSFORMING A HUMBLE WEBSITE INTO AN ESSENTIAL ONLINE RESOURCE...

Websites can have many uses – as an information directory or an online store for example – but without the right functionality behind them, they can lack direction and feel a bit flat. That isn't a problem for the main website behind the Don't Sweat It campaign – ruclear.nhs.uk – which was completely restructured as part of our ongoing work with NHS South East Essex.

USING OUR STUDIO FOR A PHOTOSHOOT AND FINDING FACES FOR THE CAMPAIGN...

When you have such a high impact brand, you need imagery to back it up. As part of the main Don't Sweat It campaign, we needed to find some young people to be the geek-chic faces of the campaign. We ran a casting session to identify the right 'faces' to fit the style of advert and, once they had been selected, we undertook an extensive photo session in our studio – complete with wardrobe and makeup stylists to get exactly the right look.