NZ Government teaches parents and caregivers how to manage online harm in new ‘Keep It Real Online’ safety campaign via Motion Sickness

The Government has stepped up its efforts to protect children and young people from the harms they may be exposed to online. Aimed at parents and caregivers gives them the tools, tips and advice they need to help keep children and young people safe from online harms.

A public awareness campaign – Keep It Real Online – kicks off this week, providing tips and advice for parents and caregivers about how to manage online harm.

The campaign was created by agency Motion Sickness. The campaign is a joint effort by the Department of Internal Affairs, Netsafe, the Office of Film and Literature Classification and the Ministry of Education. The campaign is supported by a website: www.keepitrealonline.govt.nz.

Says Sam Stuchbury, creative director/director, Motion Sickness: “We’ve been blown away by the response so far. Obviously the issues we are tackling within the campaign are sensitive, so to see the campaign land so well with parents has been amazing.

“It’s been a busy few weeks for us, we came up with the full campaign within about 4 days and then managed to get the campaign live within 4 weeks of winning the work. We’re super pleased with the result and response from Kiwis.

“We’ve had over 1000 organic shares on social and 100,000 video views, mainly organic, in the first 3 days fo the campaign.

“We are targeting parents and caregivers over the next 6 weeks. The campaign is rolling out across TV, OOH, print, social media and wider digital, so it’s going to be pretty visible throughout New Zealand.”

Says Hilary Ngan Kee, head of strategy / partner, Motion Sickness: “Conversations aren’t necessary being had about these issues across New Zealand’s dinner tables, or in the car on the school run – not in the same way that we have conversations around things like road safety, or stranger danger. We wanted to create a campaign that wouldn’t just bring awareness to the specific issues our young people face online, but would give parents an ‘in’ for starting what can be quite intimidating or difficult conversations.

“In each scenario, our parent is confronted with their worst online nightmare, right on their doorstep. But the most important thing is they stay cool, calm, and collected. The same skills they use in real life, such as open communication and level-headedness, still apply to these new digital issues. Parents should feel confident when dealing with these issues – at the end of the day, they’re the best person to keep their child safe. You don’t need to have all the answers, but supporting your child and giving that ‘adult’ guidance as they navigate the choppy waters of the online world will really make a difference.

“As Kiwis, we often use humour to help us deal with difficult subjects. In some ways it gives us back the power. If we can laugh at something, then perhaps it’s not so scary, perhaps we can tackle it a bit better than we originally thought we could. It was important to us to include a bit of offbeat humour in our ad creative. The fact we could cast some truly talented NZ comedians was a bonus.

“It’s been really rewarding to work with such knowledgeable subject matter experts and champions, who ultimately are all passionate about the same thing – keeping kiwi kids safe online. They were brave enough to choose something a bit bold and different, if that was what was going to make the most difference. A lot of work happens behind the scenes on these issues, and to be able to bring them to life (literally) and to get them in front of people was a responsibility that we took seriously. It’s one of those projects that we’re just really proud to be a part of.”