Over $2.3M worth of pro-bono media has been donated.
UnLtd, in partnership with Carat and Tag, have launched a campaign with Raise the Age NSW, to call on the NSW government to raise the age of criminal responsibility.
The campaign aims to educate the public that the age of criminal responsibility in NSW is 10 and that is too young.
Raise the Age NSW is a coalition of more than 130 First Nations, legal, human rights and civil society organisations and community services, charities, peak bodies, and unions.
The campaign is supported by over 30 media organisations.
Raise the Age NSW campaign manager Emily Mayo said it’s wonderful to have the media and advertising industry supporting this important campaign.
"Many people don’t know that children as young as ten are being arrested and locked up every day. This harms kids – and doesn’t prevent crime. We can do better for children and our community," Mayo said.
"We hope this campaign starts a conversation about how we can make NSW communities safer by investing in services that work and raising the age of criminal responsibility.”
The emotional campaign, created by Tag, asks the government to give children a happier tenth birthday.
Tag executive manager people and culture Caitlin Gregory-Layman said she hopes people are just as emotionally affected as the collaborators have been by this issue and turn that emotional investment into real action to Raise the Age in NSW.
“When we initially met with Raise the Age NSW and UnLtd, and saw the evidence, we immediately knew we could align our incredible creative talent with a cause that struck a deep emotional chord while making a massive impact," Gregory-Layman said.
"During creative development, we kept returning to that critical and vulnerable age of 10, and the ‘gift’ we are giving our ten-year-olds in NSW.
"With this campaign, we saw the opportunity to show there is a better way, and a better gift, for the children of NSW.
Carat head of investment NSW Frank Carlino said the agency is especially proud to partner with UnLtd this year.
"Not only did the campaign hit hard especially for those of us with children but our MD, Harry, also spent a night in a former Youth Incarceration Centre for Bail Out (an UnLtd initiative), where she got a taster of the harrowing ordeal children undergo," Carlino said.
"Carat has worked closely with UnLtd over the past few years to deliver pro-bono inventory for campaigns such as ‘MOOD Tea’ and ‘Youth Off the Streets’. UnLtd are an absolute force for good and have a team we love working with.
"We’d like to thank our media partners who have helped us deliver over $2.3M in pro-bono inventory across TV, Cinema, Digital, Audio and OOH to raise awareness for this important cause.”
To ensure the campaign message is as effective as possible, FiftyFive5 research came on board to run some qualitative creative testing through a focus group.
Fiftyfive5, part of Accenture Song, head of qualitative Estelle Gohil said a great demonstration of tight collaboration between qualitative research and creative to land true effectiveness.
"The Tag team created a powerful and emotive platform, however the call to action was initially unclear," Gohil said.
"A simple and quick bit of qualitative research – deployed with moderator sensitivity due to the difficult nature of the topic - was all it took to sharpen and tighten the comms, so the great campaign Tag created lands powerfully in the hearts and minds of people across NSW.”
The campaign is UnLtd’s first large-scale collaboration campaign focusing on addressing the root causes of youth disadvantage.
UnLtd director of partnerships Jade Harley said the advertising industry is uniquely positioned to shine a light on injustice, tell stories that need to be told, and advocate on behalf of vulnerable children and young people.
"It's a disgrace that right here in NSW we are ignoring the evidence from doctors, lawyers, and mental health experts to detain children as young as ten, removing them from their families and their communities," Harley said.
"At UnLtd, we work with many of the front-line charities providing early intervention, wrap-around support and programs that are proven to result in better outcomes for kids and communities. It’s been incredible to see so many people and organisations across the industry stand behind this important issue.”
Over $2.3M worth of pro-bono media has been donated to the campaign so far by Alliance, ARN, ATN, Brandspace, Cartology, GumGum, JCDecaux, JOLT, Mamamia, Motio, NewsCorp, Nine Entertainment, Nova, OA Collective, Ogury, oOh!media, Paramount, QMS, SBS, SCA Radio, Seven, Snapchat, Teads, Tonic, Uber Ads, Val Morgan Group and Yahoo
