Yesterday Youthography launched "Make Your Escape", a national recruitment ad campaign for 4-H in Canada. The Web site, makeyourescape.ca and evadetoi.ca, launched Friday to encourage rural youth to join 4-H. The Web site will be supported by a national advertising campaign with print ads in The Magazine, Verve, Fuel, Famous Kids, and SBC Skateboard magazines in February and March as well as online advertising on hotmail.com, vervegirl.com, fuelpowered.com, desperadomag.com, themagazine.ca, and
sbcskateboard.com.

"4-H members told us that the pre-conceived notions that 4-H was just all about 'sheep and goats' was the biggest problem the brand faced and they wanted to ensure that the campaign played on the social importance of the club" says Youthography Creative Director, Sean Claessen. "The Make Your Escape campaign featured actual 4-H members
as they escaped from their dull parental environment, using other skills that 4-H programs can teach them. We wanted to corrupt some of those expectations people have about 4-H."

Read more to see the work.

The campaign has a significant grassroots component where communication collateral such as postcards, stickers and a "Planning Your Escape Route" poster is being used by 4-H members to pass along to their friends.

Bedroom:

Basement:

Youthography worked with 4-H and a special Youth Advertising Team consisting of 4-H members from across Canada who came to Toronto for a two day workshop with Youthography. With 4-H membership in a steady decline over the last [10] years, the Youth Advertising Team discussed the issues they faced in regards to membership and the message they wanted to get out to their peers. "What we discovered in talking with 4-H members was that they felt that 4-H gave them a feeling of independence from their parents as a group of young people" says Becky Kwiatkowski, Supervisor, Youth Marketing at Youthography.

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Website:

Radio for the campaign was created by Calgary's Adfarm. The campaign was made possible with the financial support of Farm Credit of Canada.