The voice of authority doesn’t carry as much weight as it should with young people. But the voice of another young man might. And that ‘might’ is given even better odds when the voice belongs to the victim.

The stories about – and the consequences of – the deaths of Daniel Christie and Thomas Kelly after being king hit in Kings Cross are still ringing in the ears of Australia. So the parallels between JWT’s victim’s story and Christie’s add oomph to the campaign.

The campaign is quietly persuasive. Its shock value is subtle. It convinces by presenting the consequences of alcohol-related violence to people who would not otherwise think that the consequences affect them. There are two pieces of video content – Aggressor speaks warns the potential attacker, and Influencer warns his friends. They are being shown on free to air TV, online TV and cinema.

JWT Sydney’s campaign, Stop Before it Gets Ugly, for the NSW Government has two more power pills. It identifies potential aggressors because few people see themselves as such. And it talks to their mates, because they can influence aggressive behaviour.

The campaign launched during the AFL grand final and NRL preliminary finals weekend, one week before the October long weekend. It will run throughout summer and is the first NSW Government advertising campaign to focus specifically on alcohol-fuelled violence.

“The challenge is that few people see themselves as a potential aggressor or victim and that drives self exclusion from messaging,” said JWT Sydney’s general manager, Jenny Willits.

“Our strategy therefore is to talk to people about something they do acknowledge – their drinking behaviour – rather than talk about violence. We don’t ask them to stop drinking or stop having fun; but rather to be aware that there is a tipping point when alcohol consumption can change their behaviour. The aim is to persuade them to think about stopping or slowing down before they reach that point.”

JWT Sydney executive creative director, Simon Langley, stated, “Our primary target in the campaign is would-be aggressors. These are usually young men aged 18 to 35 who regularly go out drinking with their mates. They are decent, likeable guys who wouldn’t normally behave in a violent or anti-social way, but need to be reminded that with too many drinks, things can quickly turn ugly.

“We also developed a second execution to speak to ‘influencers’ – the friends and family of these would-be aggressors who may be able to help curb excessive drinking and the resulting behaviour.

“Throughout the campaign, we aim to convey messages from the victim’s perspective, and the social, physical and emotional consequences that alcohol-fuelled violence can have. By having a potential victim of an assault communicate with his future attacker, it depicts in a startling way the damage that could be done after just a few more drinks.

“We also believe that the tagline, Stop Before it Gets Ugly, is a very confronting, and immediate encapsulation of the behaviour change that we all seek to make our State’s streets safer.”

The TVCs are supported by OOH activity (standard sites and specially-built mirrored panels depicting a gaol cell), in-venue activity including ATMs in pubs/clubs/bars, posters and coasters, and social media, which incorporates paid advertising on Facebook to prompt behaviour change at key times. All use the tagline. Stop Before it Gets Ugly, and also highlight other consequences of losing control including legal, social and emotional implications.

JWT Sydney was appointed to develop the creative campaign following a pitch earlier this year. Its idea received extremely positive consumer testing before being developed into a full campaign.

Creative credits:

Executive creative director: Simon Langley

Creative director: John Lam

Creative group head: Laurie Geddes

Executive planning director: Angela Morris

Producers: Amanda Slatyer (broadcast) & Rachel Townsend (print)

Production company: GoodOil Films

Director: Michael Spiccia

Executive producer: Juliet Bishop

Producer: Ben Scandrett-Smith

Photographer: Simon Harsent