Description:

Young people love to send it and Red Frogs helps them do it safely, with hundreds of volunteers at
New Zealand’s biggest festivals. They set up chillout zones, provide food and hydration, care for the crowd, and work with security.

With the 2024 festival season being their biggest roster of events yet, the brief was to support Red Frogs by promoting safer partying behaviours before patrons stepped through the gates. But this audience is notoriously tricky to reach. How could we talk to them in a way that would cut through the noise, and didn’t feel like a complete down-buzz?

Our idea was to promote safety like a festival itself. Introducing ‘Send it Safely’ - a campaign that headlines a safer festival experience.

In the lead-up to summer, promoters plaster our streets with event advertising. So we placed our safety messages amongst them, disguised as festival and gig posters. We turned words of wisdom into the full lineup and made sure they knew Red Frogs volunteers were there should they need them.

Our campaign launched a few weeks before New Year’s Eve 2024 and ran right through the summer. Event advertising at the festivals reminded patrons of the messages they had seen on the streets, as well as being shared through Red Frogs social media channels.

Each execution focuses on a different festival scenario. They cover everything from your first time at a gig to looking after cooked mates, knowing when to call it a night, and how to deal with a creepy stranger in the crowd.

To bring these to life, we drew inspiration from an eclectic mix of music sub-genres - referencing these artwork styles to create our own. It goes from free-loving bohemian illustrations to drum and bass-inspired 3D melting faces, right through to heavy-metal skulls. Each one contributes a different feeling to the overall set, covering the vast types of gigs that our audience attends throughout the summer.

Typography was also a huge consideration in the project, weaving the cleverly written copy into layouts that feel like classic artist lineups. The descending scale of type is instantly recognisable as a festival poster, pulling you in and imparting some sound advice.

The core purpose of this work is to keep our rangatahi safe while still allowing them to enjoy themselves. This shift in mentality takes time, but Red Frogs saw noted improvement at the 10 events they attended over the summer. Of the 214,800 attendees, only 435 required active care—less than 0.003% of patrons.

This campaign can’t take credit for all the amazing things these volunteers do to keep our rangatahi safe. But knowing it supported their efforts and contributed to their best results yet is definitely something worth celebrating.