The Context
Youth Work Ireland is an organisation committed to the inclusion and equality of all young people. The organisation delivers a range of innovative programmes, including mental health and anxiety counselling, drug and alcohol support, and LGBTI+ youth work, as well as exciting and inclusive activities. Above all, Youth Work Ireland is the unequivocal safe space for young people to gather in Ireland.
Following the impact of the pandemic, Youth Work Ireland saw a significant decrease in club volunteers – the very life-blood of the organisation, the fuel on which the organisation runs. Without them, Youth Work Ireland would be unable to support the 76,000 young people they do each week.
Having partnered successfully with Youth Work Ireland on several occasions in recent years, and as specialists in recruitment campaigns, we at The Pudding were contacted to help the brand develop an effective recruitment drive that would inspire volunteers to get involved.
The Challenge
As a return to normal heralds a surge in demand for youth club services, the need for increased volunteers was to be expected. The Covid-19 pandemic sparked a decrease in sign-ups, therefore the challenge here was to instigate a recruitment drive that would inspire new recruits and increase awareness of the youth clubs network across local communities in Ireland.
Finding an angle that would effectively represent the brand and capture its personality while equally capturing the attention of its target audience would be crucial. Questions such as, “Why would a prospective volunteer choose to be a part of Youth Work Ireland over another organisation?” were explored in depth during the early stages as we mapped out the challenges and opportunities associated with this project.
The Concept
The Feel Good Collective
“The Feel Good Collective” is versatile and agile with a strong common thread that can oversee all comms and messaging while remaining unique and highly adaptable to the material at hand. The key sentiment that is being communicated throughout all comms for this campaign is “Feel Good”.
For the volunteer-targeted material it would be “Join The Feel Good Collective”; for the activity page “The Feel Good Activity Pack”. It is community-orientated with the inclusion of the word “collective” which represents a sense of belonging.
As a tagline, it is optimistic and wholesome – a motivational call to action that immediately communicates to the reader that they will be part of a community of like-minded people that will help them to feel good.
The Creative
Driven by the idea that a collective is a group of individuals, objects and behaviours, we developed a system of avatars to represent the organisation and the elements that together make up Youth Work Ireland.
Just like the organisation itself – a hive of vibrancy, education, support and opportunity – we wanted to ensure the campaign was a living entity, one that could express its unique personality through a range of digital assets.
Selecting a vibrant colour palette in line with the brand’s current guidelines, we combined typography and videos to bring to life the essence of Youth Work Ireland with a series of animated social posts and a club activity pack as the key deliverables.
A Unique Visual System
Ensuring that our work for Youth Work Ireland could evolve with the brand over time was a key concern in the creative phase.
By developing a unique visual system that could be tailored in-house to form new and exciting combinations of avatars, we were able to capture the versatility of the organisation’s programme offering as well as the individuals who take part in it.
Proof
“The end result is the ‘Feel Good Collective’ campaign. It is a fabulous awareness and recruitment campaign with great graphics, and snappy social media guidelines. Where the language wouldn’t have been previously very polished, the new messaging is a lot more focused on a call to action; it’s strategic and consistent.
Already we can see how we can future-proof this concept, and use it again as an enduring campaign tagline. The youth club workers are wearing the ‘Feel Good Collective’ t-shirts and embracing the idea, and we are looking to develop lanyards and badges – there is a whole scope of other things that we can do around this idea. We’re going to get a long time out of this brand campaign.”