Child internet safety campaign: Creative research
Summary of findings
Overview The campaign approach proposed by CHI was consistently favoured as the most powerful route for the child internet safety campaign. Overall, CHI’s approach was considered the most engaging and memorable, and was felt to be the most likely to generate behaviour change for both parents and CYP, in terms of: • The behavioural code (Zip it, Block it, Trash it – Click Clever, Click Safe) is communicated in a way that felt truly integrated within the campaign messages and generated an implicit understanding that the code should be adopted (without needing to explicitly say it) through the action-oriented solutions it was seen to offer • The creative idea/messages (using characters to illustrate CYP behaviour and potential solutions for CYP and parents) were felt to be powerfully engaging, motivating and innovative and generated a great deal of excitement and enthusiasm around executions of the idea in traditional and digital media • The overall campaign offered the right balance between being entertaining enough to directly engage CYP and parents and deliver serious messages that trigger an imperative for behaviour change However, there are 3 key areas for further development: • A new execution of the characters used in the creative campaign for parents and CYP (not the characters used in the code) • New messages for parents campaign materials (print, radio and online) • Refining the specific messages that underpin the code (messages underpinning ‘Block It’ and ‘Trash It’)
Research objectives
The detailed objectives of the research were to identify: • The most powerful, memorable and actionable expression of the behavioural code • The most engaging and motivating creative idea and execution across print, online, radio and participative executions • The most relevant and informative messages to ignite behaviour change.
Background
The research was designed to identify the preferred agency campaign across both parents and Children and Young People (CYP) and determine the most powerful campaign approach for meeting the objectives of the child internet safety campaign. Please note that this research was commissioned by the Department for Children Schools and Families under the previous administration and not is necessarily representative of current govt policy.
Quick summary
Research was commissioned to explore the creative campaign ideas provided by 2 pitch agencies (CHI and Farm) with the identified target audiences for the child internet safety campaign. The campaign approach proposed by CHI was consistently favoured as the most powerful route for the child internet safety campaign. Overall, CHI’s approach was considered the most engaging and memorable, and was felt to be the most likely to generate behaviour change for both parents and CYP. However, there were some areas for further development.
Audience Summary
Gender
Ethnicity
Mixed
Age
11-14 (and parents of 5-11 year olds)
Methodology
Methodology
8 group discussions:
4 x 2 hour friendship group discussions with CYP aged 11-14 years old (secondary school years 7 and 9)
4 x 2 hour group discussions with parents of CYP aged 5-11 years old (primary school years 1-3 and 4-6)
Details were as follows:
CYP:
Mini group |
Age |
School Year |
Gender |
SEG |
Location |
Internet Confidence Level |
1 |
11-12 |
7 |
Male |
C2D |
South East |
More confident |
2 |
13-14 |
9 |
Female |
C2D |
South West |
More confident |
3 |
11-12 |
7 |
Female |
BC1 |
Midlands |
More confident |
4 |
13-14 |
9 |
Male |
BC1 |
North |
More confident |
Additional sample criteria (young people):
· 6 respondents per group (recruit 7 for 5-6)
· Each group to be recruited as a friendship group
· BME and family size to fall out naturally across the sample
· All to have regular broadband Internet access at home
· All to use the internet at least 3 x per week
· All to be allowed to go online unsupervised some of the time
· Confidence to be defined according to a mix of attitudes and behaviours
Parents:
Mini group |
Age |
Child’s School Year |
Gender |
SEG |
Location |
Internet Confidence Level |
1 |
5-8 yrs |
1-3 |
Mixed |
C2D |
North |
Overwhelmed |
2 |
8-11 yrs |
4-6 |
Mixed |
C2D |
South West |
Complacent |
3 |
5-8 yrs |
1-3 |
Mixed |
BC1 |
Midlands |
Complacent |
4 |
8-11 yrs |
4-6 |
Mixed |
BC1 |
South East |
Overwhelmed |
Additional sample criteria (Parents):
· 6 respondents per group (recruit 7 for 6)
· Respondent to have at least one child within the age bracket living at home who uses the internet at least 3 x per week
· All to be recruited as ‘strangers’ (i.e. they do not know each other)
· Equal mix of mums and dads per group
· Allow BME and family size to fall out naturally across the sample
· All to have regular broadband Internet access at home
· All to be involved in decisions around their child’s use of the internet (not to defer to another parent)
Overwhelmed and complacent to be defined by a range of attitudinal statements
Data collection methodology
Sample size
48
Detailed region
London, Birmingham, Bristol and Manchester
Fieldwork dates
Nov 2009