As the first lockdown eased, the Scottish Government identified five key behaviours to reduce the spread of COVID 19. As creative manager on the campaign, I was briefed to bring them together in a memorable way.
I created the FACTS acronym - Face coverings, Avoid crowded places, Clean your hands regularly, Two-metre distancing, and Self-isolate if you got symptoms. I also scripted television and social media ads for the campaign.
Live action TV with CGI
We wanted to create a television, radio and cinema campaign that would make the advice seem simple to follow as well as comforting and approachable for a diverse audience.
So I wrote a rhyming script and we turned the letters of the acronym into fluffy, soft and friendly CGI characters.
The ad was shot in two days, under COVID 19 restrictions.
Animated TV
FACTS lent itself to numerous executions, including simple icons and animations.
FACTS popped up everywhere
FACTS had a central role in the Scottish Government's COVID-19 response campaign and featured in the First Minister's daily briefings. We supplied assets to numerous companies and organisations throughout Scotland for use in their own communications.
And it worked
At the height of the campaign, research waves showed exceptionally high agreement with the statement ‘the advertising makes clear what I need to do on an ongoing basis to help stop the spread of coronavirus’.
Agreement was 87% in July 2020 and 81% in September 2020.
