Youth campaign

With all the figures, press conferences and ongoing measures, there was also a need in the city of Leiden for a corona campaign aimed at young people. The question was put forward to develop a campaign that approaches them in a positive and understanding way to create awareness and to encourage behavioral change. This group (a diverse group between the ages of 14 and 34) moves around town in different places and of course spends a lot of their time online. We engaged GH+O Communication to support strategy and concept for this great challenge, because of their expertise in youth campaigns and online deployment. In the preliminary phase, a number of strategic starting points were defined from which the final concept was developed. Important starting points of the campaign are that it must connect with the world of young people and that we want to give them a voice. That is why the concept and design for the launch of the campaign has been thoroughly tested with a diverse group of young people. After a short and intensive development and design period, we were happy to launch the campaign right before the Christmas holidays.

Absurd photography with a sense of humor

The Lekker Bezig Leiden campaign is based on the philosophy to stop constantly criticizing young people. Being young in these times really isn’t easy, and all that negativity is only counterproductive. So we want to compliment good behavior. We’re thanking them for that skipped drink, that love life set on hold and those lonely hours in your small student room. Because if we see what young people are doing, then Leiden is doing quite well actually. By using slightly absurdist photography and video we bring some humor into this absurdly humorless period. Because we think everybody is up for that at the moment. The campaign started with a teaser in the streets of the city. Ten small statues were placed at different locations. They were 3D printed figurines of young people on a pedestal with texts such as “Tijn studied here at a distance” and “Sanne did not go to her boxing class here”. A tribute to the young people with their good behavior, because heroes deserve a statue. The campaign itself took off a few days later. We launched five photos and related videos with humorous situations. The campaign mostly takes place online, in which we also advertise specifically to reach as many local youngsters of Leiden as possible. On the streets we ensure visibility with abricars and other posters. Currently we are working on the follow-up of the campaign in which we not only aim to raise awareness among young people, but even more so want to actively activate and stimulate their good behavior.

Photography and video by Matthijs Immink.