Charlie Is In Control: A Collaboration For Change

We’re no strangers to putting together a captivating video campaign, so when Together Agency approached us with their ideas for their gritty yet impactful Charlie Is In Control campaign, we felt incredibly motivated to put our heads together and come up with something truly poignant and resonating.

The theme of Together's Charlie Is In Control campaign is tackling cocaine-related violence, working with another key collaborative partner all too familiar with this issue: The Leicestershire Police. The video follows a young man on a night out, in the grips of inebriation as a result of drinking too much, looking for a quick and easy ‘fix’ to pep himself up and keep him going for the night. It is at this point that ‘Charlie’ comes in - dressed in all white, this tracksuit-clad manipulative figure controls users like a puppeteer and influences their behaviour.

How did this concept come to life? Where did the idea of humanising cocaine come from? Let’s start with the origins of the campaign.

The brief

We worked with Together Agency and Leicestershire Police to create this powerful campaign. By leveraging in-depth behavioural insights backed by Together’s research and Leicestershire Police’s data, Together Agency was able to craft a genuinely powerful and socially important message, specifically targeted at three broad interests - nightlife (primary), sports (secondary), and peer pressure (to target friends and peers).

The demographic was particularly hard to reach, being 18 to 30-year-old men, who are the biggest user group for the drug in Leicestershire. On top of that, this target audience saw cocaine as a harmless party drug which they could manage. Awareness of its impact on behaviour, especially when combined with alcohol, was low, with the audience ignoring its damaging effects.

With this in mind, we realised that this campaign was going to be tricky. We had to stitch together a visual narrative that encapsulated the feelings and motivations behind cocaine-fueled nights based on the data, whilst also highlighting how users can be pressured into taking it.

To make the campaign resonate, we also had to think about creating relatability in the visual story. This involved visually mimicking the typical series of events of a night out that led to cocaine consumption and ultimately resulted in volatile or erratic behaviour. Together Agency conducted extensive research with behavioural science at its core, which included analysing police data, reports, demographics, past campaigns, and body cam footage, which we used to inform the direction of our videography.

One of the overarching conclusions from the data was that while users often believed cocaine didn’t make them more violent or lead to a lack of self-control, the reality was, that it often controlled them all the way into custody. So, we used this narrative, along with the supporting data, to craft the direction of the creative.

The concept

The concept turned cocaine into a character, Charlie, enabling us to show his influence. By humanising cocaine in this way, we showed the audience that they wouldn’t let a person manipulate them like Charlie does – so why would they let a dangerous drug do so? With this in mind, we got to work on a 2-day shoot up in Leicester, shooting one day in a club location and then one day at the police station.

We were excited to get going - when there is an extensive pre-production process, the build-up to the shoot is always thrilling. Even though the subject matter was challenging, we really relished producing content that was going to make a difference.

Together Agency’s research identified visual styles from popular culture, including athletic sport lifestyle brands, that would resonate with the audience. We used this insight to flavour the creative direction of the visuals. This went on to inform our entire storyboarding process and had a big impact on how we told the story to fit the paid social campaign. Our decision on the location and casting was also meticulously planned and influenced by the narrative outlined in the storyboard and script.

We wanted to create a sense of isolation, whilst simultaneously conjuring up those emotive feelings of peer pressure. We did this by focusing purely on the user at first, showcasing the degenerative stages of inebriation as alcohol consumption peaked throughout their journey.

To illustrate how this vulnerable state of lowered inhibition could lead to the coercive power of cocaine ‘taking control’, Charlie’s character enters the scene and immediately lulls the user into taking cocaine to sober up and ‘be better’ company. Charlie doesn’t ask questions and only makes demands, showcasing how the grips of cocaine usage can feel for a user who is already in a suggestive state.

Our choice of using colourless film was to illustrate that, while users often believe that cocaine doesn’t alter their behaviour, the reality of the situation is quite literally black and white. The target audience saw cocaine as a harmless party drug which they could manage, however, to everybody else, the effects are clear as day. We wanted this to come through strongly in the visual narrative, especially through the use of the Charlie character. No sober person would begin to trust such a figure, but under the influence of alcohol, he becomes increasingly more persuasive.

Personifying cocaine as the Charlie character in this way was a bold approach. It was a move away from the much-used strategy of purely shocking images, instead opting for a more personal and emotive appeal to the target audience. We took the time to understand the visual references that would resonate with the audience, drive engagement, and help the campaign cut through.

Whilst the campaign was a success, it was certainly challenging in many ways. The biggest challenge was dealing with sensitive topics such as drug abuse and addiction, whilst executing in an engaging manner that would appeal to the targeted demographic through a strong narrative and believable characters.

Ultimately, the campaign marks a shift in how police forces tackle cocaine abuse and its consequences. Its success highlights the importance of building audience understanding and the power of proactive measures. It’s a testament to the power of collaboration and creative communication, paving the way for a healthier, safer future.