FRIENDS NAME TAG CAMPAIGN

TitleFRIENDS NAME TAG CAMPAIGN
BrandSEOUL METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENTS
Product / ServiceSEOUL METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENTS
CategoryA06. Events & Experiential (incl. stunts)
EntrantCHEIL WORLDWIDE Seoul, SOUTH KOREA
Entrant Company CHEIL WORLDWIDE Seoul, SOUTH KOREA
Advertising Agency CHEIL WORLDWIDE Seoul, SOUTH KOREA
Production Company BREAKFAST FILM Seoul, SOUTH KOREA

Credits

Name Company Position
Oh hyung-kyun Cheil Worldwide Creative Director
Hwang sung-phil Cheil Worldwide Creative Director
Oh hyung-kyun Cheil Worldwide Art Director
Hwang sung-phil Cheil Worldwide Art Director
Lee da-min Freelancer Copywriter
Kim jae-hoon Cheil Worldwide Copywriter
Cho kap-shin Cheil Worldwide Account Executive
Kang hyo-jin SMG Design Policy Department
Hwang sang-mi SMG Design Policy Department
Joo myeong-joon Ex creative Technical Director
Kang tae-jin Ex creative Technical Director
Yeo chang-hwa Ex creative Technical Director
Kim hong-jin Syscall Technical Designer
Lee jae-chul Breakfast Film Director
So yun-sung Breakfast Film Assistant Director
Park kwang-hyun Breakfast Film Assistant Director
Kim do-hyun Freelancer Cameraman
Lee jae-youn Seoul vision Editor
Choi ji-won JW pictures Photographer
Kim Yoon-ho Cheil Worldwide Voice Actor

The Campaign

School violence is a serious problem in South Korea. According to some surveys, the youth of South Korea are the unhappiest among all OECD countries. 45% of students who had experienced school violence answered that they had considered suicide. It seems that school violence has a grave influence on South Korean youth’s level of happiness. Moreover, reports claim that almost half the students answered that they had witnessed bullying, but just turned a blind eye. We focused on these bystanders, who are the majority of the students, and tried to help them actively look out for one another. Based on this idea, we create the “Friends Name Tag”. This campaign was launched at the beginning of the new semester, when we distributed the “Friends Name Tags” to 298 juniors at Chungam Middle School. There are two functions for this “Friends Name Tag”. First, it has 2 names written on its: One being the owner’s name, and the other a friend’s. With these new name tags, students were encouraged to get to know the classmate whose name was on their name tag, regardless of existing friendships or hierarchy. And in addition, it has an embedded alarm system. When students see a friend being bullied, all they have to do is press the button on the name tag. Teachers then get a call for help through a computer or wearable devices. As a result, 106 calls were made,and teacher-student counseling took place. Moreover, no actual bullying occurred during the campaign period.

The Brief

The main worry of bystanders is that there’s no proper way to report bullying or protect the bullied. So we wanted to help do so in an easy and simple step, without having to worry about getting into trouble themselves. And the campaign was held at the beginning of the new semester, because survey shows that 30% of all school violence occurs in March and April. That is because a social hierarchy starts to form among the students. If we help the bystanders actively reach out to their friends at the right time, bullying would occur much less.

Results

The “Friends Name Tag” gave students an opportunity to get to know each other, and provided an easy way to look out for them, too. During the campaign period, a total of 106 calls were made, and teacher-student counseling took place. Moreover, no bullying occurred during the campaign despite the high expected rate of school violence. This result is inspiring, considering the fact that the annual average of bullying occurrences was 8.5 during the past 6 years. Chungam Middle School is using the “Friends Name Tag” as a useful item for education programs reinforcing friendship. Inspired by this success, our client – the Seoul Metropolitan Government – is showing the campaign film to promote the anti-bullying policy with 100 billboards, 1035 screens of public transportations, and official screens of 25 district offices. Moreover, the campaign is being considered to expand to other schools.

Execution

This campaign was launched on March 9, 2015, when “Friends Name Tags” were distributed to 298 first-graders at Chungam Middle School. Besides encouraging students to become friends, the “Friends Name Tag” had one more function. With an embedded emergency alarm system, students who see friends being bullied can easily help them, instead of ignoring them. When a student pushes a button on the name tag, teachers are notified right away through computers and wearable devices. To prevent secondary harm, every piece of information is processed and converted to unique IDs, so that only the teachers can recognize where the call came from. The data of all the “Friends Name Tag” calls made is saved onto a server and is being used for more effective counseling.

The Situation

The main worry of bystanders is that there’s no proper way to report bullying or protect the bullied. So we wanted to help do so in an easy and simple step, without having to worry about getting into trouble themselves. And the campaign was held at the beginning of the new semester, because survey shows that 30% of all school violence occurs in March and April. That is because a social hierarchy starts to form among the students. If we help the bystanders actively reach out to their friends at the right time, bullying would occur much less.

The Strategy

The highest occurrence of school violence was found among middle school students, with 73.8% of all the occurrences. To allow middle school students to become friends, instead of being a bully or a victim, we created the “Friends Name Tag”. There are 2 names on the “Friends Name Tag”: the owner’s name and a classmate’s name. Since students in South Korea are required to always wear a name tag, the “Friends Name Tag” could potentially bring them closer together, regardless of their school grades, popularity, or outward appearance. As a result, the “Friends Name Tag” can prevent a possible hierarchy from forming, and encourage equal and close relationships among students.