Fragile Childhood organization, needed to raise awareness of parental alcohol misuse and its consequences. They briefed us to motivate Finnish people who have suffered from parental alcohol misuse to share their experiences by submitting their stories anonymously to the organisation’s website.These stories will be used in the next phase of the awareness campaign targeted to all alcohol consuming parents in Finland, run by Alko, national alcohol distributor owned by the Finnish state. They also briefed us to raise the overall awareness of their cause. Media budget didn't exist and the total budget for production was under 10 000 Eur.Our solution was to raise awareness with a single film that manages to surprise, touch and move people, and for viewers to be inspired to share that experience.Film release was followed by press releases which were published unchanged in all main news media. Through this exposure the client received numerous invitations to talk about the issue on national TV, press and radio interviews. As a bonus for the campaign the National TV broadcaster Yleisradio (YLE) picked up the film and ran it, without charge, in their social responsibility segment daily, for weeks.

Alko, national alcohol distributor owned by the Finnish state was about to start a nationwide awareness campaign targeted to all alcohol consuming parents (active now: http://www.lastenseurassa.fi/ ).

The Fragile Childhood organization (our client) was asked by Alko to deliver content (Real stories related to parental alcohol misuse) for that campaign. That was our primary goal, and target audience for that was all people who had faced parental alcohol misuse in their life, especially young people.Secondary goal was to raise overall awareness of the cause and peer and professional support possibilities.

The film was published on YouTube on December 8th 2010. At the same time we had gone through a list of key opinion leaders. We asked them to see the video, take a stand and share it if they wanted. The discussion exploded where ever it was on.During first week: Over 20 000 views in YouTube alone, which is astonishing in the Finnish market. To get an idea of the impact in this country if we take the same ratio of views to population using the US as an example it would be equivalent to 1.25 million views.After first week the time was right for a press release by our client (written by us) about the cause and linking to the film. It went through in all main news media unchanged.Campaign was to be active for 3 weeks, now the Finnish public is keeping it active. Still.

- Target amount of stories submitted was exceeded by over 300%- Our press release was published in all main news media in Finland, causing a chain of discussions in those medias by journalists and by readers. In TV, printed and digital media. Discussion is still going on in media websites, in press readers sections and in social media - Multiple requests for TV, press and radio interviews- Agency Creative Director got to present the case for selected people of Finland's Ministry of Social Affairs and Health- As a bonus the National TV broadcaster YLE picked up the film and ran it, without charge, in their social responsibility segment at peak time, daily, for few weeks- Selected as "2010 society communication act of the year" in Finland with honorary mentions- The film was awarded with the Jury prize at the National "Vuoden Huiput" (Year’s Best) awards

Finnish people are naturally reserved and not used to talking about their personal private experiences. We wanted to get the message straight to the target group where they are spending personal time and where they are open for content. With a non existing media budget the challenge was tough. It became clear that the message needed to be so strong that people would start to share it from their own personal motivation, to give the campaign legs of its own.Our solution was to raise awareness with a single film that manages to surprise, touch and move people. And support it with well planned PR activities.The film doesn't preach nor use the obvious methods of "viral" films. It builds a strong foundation for the long term communication task: to affect the behaviour of parents.

“Nanny passed out, the child plays alone upstairs.”“The child was taken into care, she was abandoned and left outside, alone”“Small children freezing, crying in a car. The parents in a pub” “A child wandering outside, in freezing temperatures in the Northern Finnish town of Seinäjoki”“A 14 year old at home left alone for 10 days ...”- News headlines like these started to be too common. Something had to be done.Based on A-Clinic Foundations research in Finland during 2009, 23% of Finns have experienced their parents using too much alcohol as a distracting factor.