Take time. Talk, listen & play.

Promoting the importance of children’s language and communication skills to parents

This was an awareness campaign to promote the role of parents in developing their children’s language and communication skills. In response to research highlighting that many pre-school children weren’t being encouraged enough to talk, listen and communicate at home, our challenge was to promote the importance of developing children’s language and communication skills to parents, carers and relatives, encouraging them to think about how they interact with their children while encouraging them to take on a more proactive approach.

We approached this brief with sensitivity; aware of the need to communicate our message in a non-patronising way, showing empathy to parents and the challenges of parenting. Our approach centred around a hero film which sat at the heart of the communications plan. We chose to use poetry and an illustrative film style to introduce some humour and keep the tone of voice light and encouraging. We engaged with Anni Llyn, the former Children’s Poet Laureate for Wales, who provided the voice-over for the film and radio commercials, as well as helping us write the poem. Two talented young children helped Anni read the poem, ensuring that the tone of the campaign was both endearing and non-patronising. We knew it was important to make this as fun and as rewarding a process as possible, so we also developed a series of short, 30-second, bite-size tips for time-poor parents and carers, encouraging their involvement with suggested activities they could easily incorporate to their day-to-day with children. We produced all films in both English and Welsh, carefully adapting it for each, ensuring they had just as much impact, whatever the language.

The project was very well received by our client, and we were equally proud of the work we produced. We were delighted to be involved in such an important project with the potential to have significant impact on the lives of many young children and their parents. The delivery of the campaign has been highly targeted utilizing multiple media channels, including Press (PR), OnDemand (ITV Hub, 4OD), S4C, Radio, Facebook and Instagram.