Creative Advertising students tackle taboos in Healthy Relationships campaign

20 July 2023

A group of Creative Advertising student standing in front of a screen in a seminar room

Healthy Relationships campaign Creative advertising students

Type: Text

Category: Student stories, Falmouth News

Students from Falmouth’s School of Communications have been working with Truro College and Safer Cornwall to produce a hard-hitting awareness campaign encouraging healthy relationships amongst college students.

Responding to a live brief funded through the Government’s Safer Streets 4 initiative, students from Creative Advertising BA(Hons), Marketing Communications BA(Hons) and Creative Advertising MA pitched their campaign concepts to a panel of representatives from Cornwall Council, Truro College and Barnardo's.

The Healthy Relationships campaign objective is to inform college students of how to identify unhealthy relationships, their impacts and what they can do to challenge and change unhealthy behaviours. This is part of a wider campaign by Safer Cornwall that aims to tackle neighbourhood crime, anti-social behaviour and Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG), improving the safety of public spaces for all.

Students firstly conducted market research with 16-18 to discover insights about their target audience that would inform their campaign’s strategy, planning and creative output. They then pitched their campaign ideas to a panel of experts, with two campaigns being selected for development.

Safer Streets 4 Programme Coordinator Chris Thomas, who was a judge on the panel, told us: “I thought the standard, confidence and professionalism of the student pitches and research was exceptional.”

Blue poster with text 'Do you recognise the signs of an unhealthy relationship'

Stop signs with healthy relationships messaging

Student work of playing cards with healthy relationship slogans

Creative Advertising BA(Hons) student Theo Gaimster’s campaign ‘Do Not Ignore the Signs’ alongside Creative Advertising MA students Michaela Horova and Annie Gault’s campaign ‘Heart to Heart’ were chosen by the panel. The campaigns will now go into production with campaign ads running in physical locations across Truro College’s campus as well as being displayed on their online platforms this September.

Getting to work on a live brief that aims to convey such an important message has been a highly valuable experience for our students. Campaign winner, Annie Gault said: “The project resonated personally with me, thinking back to when I was 16-18 and struggling myself, and I have really put my all into working on the campaign, not just because it's a good opportunity for my career, but also because I would love to help teenagers grow healthier connections in a less stigmatised social environment.”

Reflecting on his winning campaign, Theo said: “My research with the students showed that they’re scared to talk about these uncomfortable topics. Changing this is a necessity, and that’s the aim behind my campaign.”

Lucy Cokes, Senior Lecturer in Creative Advertising, commented: “The subject of this campaign is an area that’s important for all of us to learn about. Although this brief was quite complex, our students smashed it, having studied the ‘Behaviour Change for Good’ module this study block. I am so excited to be involved in this project and look forward to seeing the campaigns going live.”