In March 2022 all forms of physical punishment of children became illegal in Wales. This law conferred the same rights for children that naturally apply to all adults.
Our first objective was to engage stakeholders and inform the nation of the coming change to the law. In the pre-change period our creative concept, The Sound of Change, featured parents and children clapping and exchanging high fives. In March 21 awareness of the coming change stood at 45% of all adults.
In April 2022 we launched our Not Here campaign announcing that the law had changed.
By June 2022, 83% of all adults were aware of the change.
The creative strategy was built around 3 pillars:
CONNECT – raise and reinforce awareness.
ENGAGE – build understanding and ignite national pride, and
EMPOWER – encourage positive parenting by promoting alternatives to physical punishment.
In celebratory spirit, on the first anniversary of the change, we created a film and ran a digital campaign featuring parents and babies born in that year in Wales from a local baby and parenting group at Cardiff Central Library. Our call to action was directing parents and carers to the Parenting. Give it time to inform parents about alternatives to physical punishment and positive parenting tips.
In March 2023 75% of all adults in Wales were aware that the law had changed. The campaign website achieved 51,282 clicks, a 14% uplift on our target of 45,000 and a 64% increase on the previous year.
This integrated campaign created 30.8 million impressions, and 221,048 clicks on paid digital advertising.
