March’s Creative Spotlight: Dept for Science, Innovation & Technology

Some ads stop you in your tracks. This month’s standout ad is one of them.

The Government’s ‘You Won’t Know Until You Ask’ campaign is trying to tackle one of modern parenting’s trickiest challenges: how do you talk to your children about the content they see online?

Its radio ad is a masterclass in using the medium’s unique power to stimulate the imagination and influence our emotions. The ad puts the listener in a familiar setting, right there in the kitchen with a dad making dinner, while his daughter is somewhere else in the house…quietly absorbing toxic and harmful information online. No visuals, just voices, carefully crafted sound effects and our imagination uncomfortably picturing our own children.

For its call to action, the ad also makes use of one of radio’s newest tools, voice-enabled interaction with smart-speakers. This gives parents the option to “find the right questions” to start that conversation immediately after hearing the ad.

Even if you aren’t a parent, this ad still resonates because it’s highlighting something we all recognise.

With a National Conversation and consultation on children’s digital wellbeing launching alongside the campaign, let’s hope it encourages more people to talk about what they are seeing and to engage in shaping some long-term change.

Creative Agency: TMW, part of Accenture Song