How to hit commissioning gold for a youth audience

This time last year I was working hard as a communications specialist for the NHS to make sure that the commissioning process for the Awkward Moments campaign followed a meaningful youth involvement approach. 

The campaign, which seeks to improve the conversations about sex and consent among 16-19 year olds in Scotland, was developed by the sexual health teams at NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, NHS Lanarkshire and NHS Lothian. It was essential that youth voices were heard and included at every stage of the campaign development.

At the point that the work was being planned, I had worked in youth health communications for 18 years. I knew that the way in which creative work was being commissioned for this audience, and my own role in it, had room for improvement. It was painfully obvious from some previous campaign feedback and testing sessions that the young people involved were just not ‘digging’ the engagement process. Importantly, they felt that the point at which they were asked to comment or contribute to the work, was far too late. The way we worked to commission youth campaigns needed to change.

So, this time we ran things differently. In advance of the pitches, the creative agencies were asked to provide an accessible, no ‘guff’ version of their pitch proposal to the youth steering group. First impressions really matter, and these proposals gave the group the information they needed to contribute and ask their own questions at the pitches.

The conduct of the youth group at interview was awesome. They were measured in their appraisal of the responses from the invited agencies. They let us know who they would be comfortable working with based on the answers received. It was important to us that their views were incorporated throughout the whole creative process, the focus groups around the campaign messages, the format, the casting, the sign off – we wanted their voice on all of it and I think we did achieve this as a collective team.

The youth involvement process we followed was recently cited in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) as an example of excellent practice. The full outcomes and impact of the campaign can be found in a report by Thread and Fable, the agency which we commissioned to deliver the campaign. Through the campaign evaluation, we were able to show an increase in confidence to start the ‘awkward’ conversations among our youth audience. 

Forty-six per cent of the young people surveyed said they felt more confident to have the 'awkward' conversations about consent following the campaign.

The campaign films are now part of the Scottish Relationships Sexual Health and Parenthood (RSHP) curriculum. Achieving this particular impact result has been a professional highlight for me. The films (and the associated lesson plan) are so much better than what Scottish young people previously received in their education about this crucial aspect of their lives.

When the work was signed off by the young people involved, they told us they felt that we had treated them with respect and as equal partners. They said that they had enjoyed a vastly improved experience in terms of how authentic their involvement was. They knew their voices were reflected in the work, because they could see it in the final films. Another proud moment.

Key considerations to make a campaign for young people work:

• Do you have creative and/or PR agencies on your procurement roster who specialise in meaningful youth engagement and content? If not, I’d recommend that you do.
   
• Does the agency/person/organisation selected have proven experience of creating accessible engagement (focus group) resources to enable young people to feedback their views in a safe and honest way? Are sub-contractors bought into this way of working?
   
• Will all commissioned individuals working on the campaign spend the extra time (and patience) it will need to conduct these sessions throughout each stage of the creative journey? 
   
• How will testing and evaluation involve the intended audience?
   
• Are those commissioned passionate about accessible outputs and understand the legal requirements for public sector organisations around this?
   
• Do they offer payment to the youth panel without prompting?
   
• Do they consider how seldom heard voices will be included?  

If you can say yes to all of this and more when commissioning for a youth audience – then you may have struck commissioning gold.

Leanne Hughes is senior communications officer at Healthcare Improvement Scotland.