Young audiences have been deeply affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The negative impact to their education and careers has been considerable, and the toll it has taken on their emotional wellbeing is lamentable, leaving an already fragile generation feeling even more vulnerable. And this is in part because of the levels of misinformation, myth and conspiracy surrounding the virus and the vaccines designed to tackle it.

In early 2021 we launched a campaign for Birmingham City Council called ‘Bring Back Brum’, a rallying cry and encouragement to young people to abide by the rules and public health guidance designed to keep them safe and get the old normal back quicker.

By the end of the year our audience became eligible for the vaccine.

We knew that to support uptake we had to tackle scepticism head on, and engage the audiences most at risk of ignoring official communication.

We decided to collaborate with the inimitable Naveed Central, a Birmingham YouTuber building a strong following for his unique street-cast candid interviews.

We asked Naveed to hit the streets of Birmingham to find out how young people felt about the vaccine – to collect myths and misapprehensions, and demonstrate how hosts of young people were choosing to be vaccinated ( a classic social proofing technique).

Armed with conspiracies, we then had Naveed sit down with Dr Justin Varney, the Director of Public Health, to get straight answers from the very top, presenting an unvarnished view of an official figure, to an audience so often mired in cynicism for large institutions.

We delivered 23k organic views at a cost-per-view of just £0.04p from Naveed’s channels. Our paid campaign delivered over 94k highly targeted views, and over 3,000 young people clicked through to find their nearest walk-in centre.