Talk to Frank
Issue 11 | July 2009
Agency
Profero London
Creative Team
Creative Director: Liz Sivell Creative Team: Warren Frost & Al Mills
Production Team
Tim Grout (Lead Designer), Patrick Lendrum (Second Designer), Roberto Cascavilla (Flash Developer), Scott Allen (Video Tech)
Date
December 08 to Present
Background
The Home Office, DoH, DCSF and COI challenged Profero to create an informative, impartial and genuinely interactive digital experience where teenagers could seek advice on drugs and drug use and that offered an unflinching and realistic examination into the dark side of cocaine abuse. We were to support this with digital interactive adverts to drive users to the site and encourage them to explore the rich and powerful information available to them.
Idea
Working closely with above-the-line agency, Mother, and using Pablo the dog as a guide, drawing attention to the plight of animals in drug trafficking, the microsite needed to be a truly interactive experience. Research has shown that the teenage audience are notoriously hard to connect with and they very quickly reject advertising and websites that they feel to be patronising or lacking engagement. Our strategy, therefore, was to create an in-depth, highly informative space that was both factually rich yet also communicated the dangers of cocaine in a tone-of-voice that did not turn-off the target demographic. The site also had to be aesthetically appropriate yet easy to navigate, creating a desire in the user to explore further into and acquire more knowledge and understanding.
As a result our audience is encouraged to uncover the shocking representations of the consequences of cocaine use. Respective areas focus on addiction, the heart, impurities, nose, personality and law, as well as the effects on drug mules like Pablo. Interactive features culminating in an overworked heart rupturing from cocaine exposure and frame-by-frame shots of a nosebleed typify the realistic video and photographic content that provides users with gritty experiential messages, in a unique embodiment of the campaign message.
The website was supported by a series of advertising executions from Profero: Addiction and Nosebleed, an MPU and skyscraper respectively, and video MPUs utilising TV advertising in Heart, Banknote and Addiction 2 (created by ATL agency, Mother).
The Result
The campaign has been a resounding success. Talk To FRANK has been receiving record traffic – 584,727 unique users and 701,532 total visits in January alone – and pre- and post-recognition target audience surveys have produced great cut-through:
88% of interviewees found the campaign to be believable
67% felt cocaine to be more risky than they had previously believed
63% were now less likely to try cocaine than prior to seeing the campaign