#EndCyberBullying

It’s no mean feat creating content to engage teenagers – they are notoriously hard to reach and can sniff out inauthenticity in a second. To create this suite of content around this important issue, we knew we’d have to approach this one in a unique way if we wanted to get our message across to our intended audience.

To achieve this we made our audience part of the conversation from day one. By workshopping scenarios, creative approach, language and messaging with young people who are ‘in the trenches’ so to speak, we were able to develop creative content that was not only authentic to the teen experience, but also compelling and resonates strongly with them. We took this collaborative approach one step further, by using these workshops as part of the casting process, we sourced our talent from these groups, ensuring not only authenticity, but that our talent was switched on and engaged with the subject matter – a facet that is immediately apparent and appreciated by our audience.

For the content itself, we captured short scenes familiar to our teen audience, depicting the moment a damaging post is sent and begins to spread online. Through these scenarios we illustrate the behaviour around cyber bullying, and challenge our audience to consider not only the impact of being the instigator, but also of standing idly by while the bullying occurs, and how this contributes to the bullying behaviour.

Seeing these situations from this realistic and multi-faceted perspective aligns with the reality of the cyber bullying phenomenon, rather than trying to sugar-coat or stylise the behaviour, and gives our audience the compelling out-take – if we see behaviour we know is not right, we should take action and work together to stop cyber bullying.