Youth services
Finding the right voice
CGL has been consulting with young people on the best ways for its youth services to get their message across .
DDN reports on the outcomes , and the potential lessons for other providers
P romoting services to young people , particularly in an area like drugs and alcohol , can be fraught with potential pitfalls . It ’ s important not to seem intimidating or offputting , and to come up with something young people can relate to , but at the same time it ’ s vital to avoid slipping into patronising or embarrassing ‘ down with the kids ’ territory – something that ’ s likely to alienate your target audience even more .
Following the re-branding of change , grow , live ( CGL ) from Crime Reduction Initiatives ( CRI ) ( DDN , February , page 11 ), the organisation felt that it still needed to do more to reach younger people . ‘ Prior to the national rebrand many of our YP services created their own local branding ,’ CGL ’ s national head of operations for young people ’ s services , Raj Ubhi , tells DDN . While the organisational rebrand ensured a ‘ refreshed visual identity and national consistency ’ in how services were marketed to service users and potential referrers , it didn ’ t necessarily appeal to younger audiences in the same way as it did to adults , he says . ‘ We therefore decided to work with young people themselves to develop a specific , distinctive and recognisable brand which young people could more closely relate to and engage with .’
The process started around six months after the national CGL re-brand was introduced , and following a period of extensive consultation , development and implementation , all of CGL ’ s services across the country adopted the new young person ’ s brand from April this year . ‘ What young people want from a brand often differs from what adults want – I think there was a consensus that actually we can do something that better appeals to our younger audiences that ’ s separate to something you might expect to see in an adult service ,’ he says . It was ‘ a big piece of work ’, however , involving more than 20 services working with varying ages , backgrounds and needs , all of which CGL wanted to cater for .
The organisation consulted more than 180 young people , but also extended the consultation to commissioners , professionals and partners , because ‘ a lot of the marketing material has to appeal to them as referrers also ’, he explains .
A key element to get right was one of the most basic – the actual naming of the services . ‘ One of the things that is central to our values is service user voices informing and influencing the services we offer them – ultimately it ’ s their service ,’ says Ubhi . ‘ Therefore , young people often inform what our services are named locally . We want something they can relate to and something that ’ s going to appeal to them . Generally we go into local areas to consult through competitions or raffles to help determine service names , and it ’ s important that a national brand has the capacity for localisation . So although the logo for all our services is now the same – and the design architecture that sits around it – the actual service names are going to be local . There are quite a few of our services named Wize Up – young people seem to like that name .’
Just as important were the visuals – an area it can be easy to get wrong . ‘ A lot of that came through in the consultations – young people didn ’ t want a brand that contained patronising images , language and designs ,’ he says . ‘ Some of the key messages were that they wanted something that looked current , bold and minimalistic . They liked the dark backgrounds , black and white images and bright colours , so something quite striking but simple at the same time . We took into account national commercial brands that they were particularly fond of .’
They also wanted images that ‘ represented young people in general ’ rather than pictures of the type of people generally perceived as ‘ substance misusers ’, he stresses . ‘ They were against using young people ’ s faces more generally because they thought that could stereotype the type of person that might access the service . There isn ’ t a typical young substance user – most young people will have some level of interaction or relationship with substances , whether that be curiosity , recreational or more problematic use .’
It was important to try to increase visibility and accessibility for all these audiences by reducing stigma , he says , another reason to move away from ‘ traditionally deficit-based images that represent problematic drug use , or that scream out “ drug and alcohol misuse ”’. There may be a bit of resistance in terms of engaging with that type of service , depending on the young person , parent or carer – that was key feedback that we tried to take into account .’
On the subject of feedback , the reaction since the rebranding has been positive , he says . ‘ It ’ s really good that young people were involved throughout – not only did we
12 | drinkanddrugsnews | June 2017 www . drinkanddrugsnews . com