Social media campaigns that make it easier to call De Kindertelefoon about loneliness, bullying, love and sex.

In recent years, young people's mental wellbeing has received more and more attention. Yet research shows that the threshold for contacting De Kindertelefoon (the Dutch children's helpline) is still high. That's why De Kindertelefoon runs campaigns around themes that matter to young people, such as love, sex, loneliness and bullying. 

The campaigns

In collaboration with Jong & Je Wil Wat, we came up with and produced three campaigns. Jong & Je Wil Wat is a communications agency specialising in young people aged 10 to 27. The core question that ties the three campaigns together is: 'How are you doing today?'. With it, De Kindertelefoon wants to convey that you can talk to them about anything. The aim is to start a conversation with the target group. 

The campaigns are built around three themes: loneliness, bullying, and love & sex. Campaign 1 was about loneliness, campaign 2 focused on bullying and campaign 3 was all about love and sex. Each theme is linked to a relevant theme week. For example, the campaign about bullying ties in with the national Anti-Bullying Week. 

The campaign assets

For the three campaigns, we developed short videos specifically for Instagram and Facebook. The assets are aimed at De Kindertelefoon's target group: children and young people aged 8 to 18, with a focus on the 10 to 15 age group. 

Research shows that young people find visual ads more appealing than text-only ones. That's why the campaigns consist entirely of video and photography. We're glad that, in this way, we've helped make it easier for young people to contact De Kindertelefoon. 

Core message & objective

Research showed that awareness of De Kindertelefoon among children and young people is high, but that the way De Kindertelefoon works is less well known. Children reportedly found De Kindertelefoon not accessible enough. There are stigmas about calling De Kindertelefoon, including: "De Kindertelefoon is only for kids who are really struggling", "Only if you're being abused at home" or "Only if you're being bullied really badly." 

De Kindertelefoon is there for every child who needs someone to listen. With these campaigns, De Kindertelefoon also wants to raise awareness of its chat and forum. The aim is clear: to let children know they really can talk about anything. The campaigns also explain the role of De Kindertelefoon and put the emphasis on normalising asking for help. You can always share your story, and it's always okay to ask for help.  

What did we do?

We developed videos and ads for the campaigns. The video format was adapted to Instagram Stories and the Facebook timeline. That means high-quality video content. The videos are based on storytelling principles, placing young people in situations they may recognise. They consist of a good mix of stock footage, animation and self-produced video content. The videos and the accompanying social media ads offer an immediate call to action, with a click-through to the campaign landing page. 

Method and results

We developed the concept together with Jong & Je Wil Wat. We combined Jong & Je Wil Wat's knowledge of reaching a young audience with our knowledge of behaviour on social media, and used those insights to come up with great assets and create formats. The assets were validated with the target group beforehand, so that De Kindertelefoon would hit the mark with young people. The goal: to create visibility among the target group and lower the threshold for getting in touch. With a limited run time and a modest budget, we reached more than half of all young people in the Netherlands. The KPIs set in advance for reach and engagement were comfortably exceeded!