"Funny quickly becomes too trashy"

Eric Markowski and Luca Schneider are the winners of the Cyber category. We talked to them about why their measures reach young target groups.

WW: "We all do stupid things when we're young," you write in the introduction to your campaign. Are you part of this target group that is young and does stupid things? Tell us.
Luca Schneider: Even at an advanced age, people still do stupid things. At our age, you're just more risk-averse and take more risks that when you're older you might think, "Hey, are you nuts, I'm really not going to do that right now."
Eric Markowski: With the boys, it's often also about tests of courage. Or that you think, he doesn't dare, he's a wimp, step aside, I'll do it.

How will you make learners aware that they are not invulnerable?
Markowski: We first tried a funny version, but that quickly becomes too trashy. We're also talking about a serious topic, which shouldn't be taken lightly. If you just see a poster and laugh your head off, that doesn't change your thinking. You might get a little attention for Suva, but you won't solve the problem.
Tailor: Then we tried to work with the reminder finger, but quickly realized that it doesn't work. Because the reminder finger has exactly the opposite effect. Instead, we wanted to pick up the people where they have their great love. Only when they lose this love through the work accident do they realize what has actually happened.

Were you able to benefit from your knowledge of young people's lives for this idea?
Markowski: You don't have a better insight just because you're younger. What you can understand a little better is a lack of a broad range of experience and that you can still make mistakes. But we have to think about it in the same way.
Tailor: We are perhaps even closer to the needs of the boys. Or we can understand them better because we tend to still have the same hobbies. But even a 70-year-old has a hobby that he can no longer do if something happens to him. So why shouldn't he be able to get the same idea?

The poster sites feature items such as a snowboard or a guitar that an accident victim now no longer needs. Next to them is their tragic story, and a QR code refers to the associated microsite. Why do you think apprentices use this QR code?
Tailor: I think the QR code is one of those things that nobody uses anyway. It's already extremely outdated.
Markowski: What does obsolete mean? I think the QR code is justified. It just has to be used cleverly. It's also more widespread among the younger generation, who are practically growing up with it.
Tailor: Of course, it all depends on how you use it. The code has to generate added value, it has to take you further, it has to tell you more about the product. Then the QR code makes sense. But if I don't know what's going to happen... You'll end up on a porn site.

On Twitter and Facebook, new stories and items will be shared every 15 minutes to promote the campaign. What is the easiest way to reach young people on social media platforms?
Markowski: We also wondered how to really get people to visit a site and then share the content. So we came up with the idea of a swap meet where items from the victims are shared. The items are sort of the carrot that's in front of the horse to attract people. Then when you receive that item, there's something personal about it, like a letter from the person. So the contact with the person and their accident history is not only through the website, Facebook or Twitter, but also through that person's item.
Tailor: The items also all have traces of the user, such as a few travel stickers on the guitar from various countries. Every time you look at the object, it tells you its story. The focus is on the sustainable information about what can happen or has happened.
Markowski: We wanted people to also talk about the stories, to be interested in them. And you should be able to read what people write about the objects.

Are there brands/companies whose microsite or Facebook page young people definitely do not use, for example because the brand or its image is not young enough?
Markowski: You can give any company a young image. The important thing is that it is credible. It's not even necessary for a brand to be "youthful. Apple, for example, was hardly aiming to sell iPods to 12-year-olds from the very beginning. Besides, the target group "youthful" somehow doesn't really work - there may be certain points where everyone is similar. But you may have liked playing soccer, and I played games before I discovered alcohol and women.
Tailor: That's why I actually think it's generally a bad idea to define a target group. Especially if the target group doesn't reflect reality, as is the case with a prevention campaign aimed at 25- to 35-year-olds. In fact, it is the 15- to 20-year-olds who should be warned against binge drinking. In this age group, peer pressure is still strong. When I'm 25, I can say for myself what suits me and what doesn't. But it's much easier to influence a 14-year-old. It's the same with apprentices: If an apprentice says "Do this!" an apprentice often doesn't dare refuse, even if it's too dangerous for him. He then simply does it so as not to look bad - and then perhaps does it exactly wrong.

Interview: Ursina Maurer