Afbeelding
Célina Dalebout is studying for her master’s in Content & Media Strategy and is one of the students that was able to contribute to the campaign. She’s enthusiastic about the attention the campaign is getting. “It’s really great that we get the chance through our studies to work on a project like this. It’s an important issue and the fact that the campaign is now getting so much media attention is really good to see. We’ve not earned any credits for the project but it does show that if you do your best, even if you don’t directly benefit from it, it still offers great possibilities and opportunities.
With the guidance of professor of applied sciences Bianca Harms, the students looked into how young adults could be discouraged from vaping. ‘Students used qualitative research to analyse the reasons young people decide to start vaping. This provided valuable insights for the development of the campaign.’ Célina admits that before she did the study she wasn’t much aware of the dangers of vaping. ‘It just wasn’t something I’d thought about but the study showed me just how important it is that we do give the matter attention.’
As part of the target group, the students’ input was particularly useful for Wefilm, the company behind the campaign and the research project for the professorship and the students. Bas Welling, CEO and co-founder of Wefilm, appreciated the collaboration with NHL Stenden. ‘In order to have impact, we always try to put ourselves in the shoes of the target group. We can only change behaviour if we fully understand them. For this campaign, that meant working with the Transformational Media professorship and with students from the master Content & Media Strategy at NHL Stenden. The students helped us with our research, with the creative process and ultimately with the media launch. Working together like this proved to be not only really good, but also useful as initial results are way above expectations.’
Professor Bianca Harms reiterates that the collaboration was of value to all those involved. ‘It really was an exchange of knowledge, vision and experience between the students, professionals and researchers. It’s a wonderful example of how research, education and business can work together to create solutions for issues in society.’
‘Normally, the work a student does for a company stays internal,’ admits Célina. ‘It was really good to be able to have a look behind the scenes and it got me thinking about whether I want to explore this area more. Being able to be fully involved and work on the campaign pleasantly surprised me.’
Research into vape behaviour amongst NHL Stenden students
The Transformational Media professorship wrote a research report that was used by both WeFilm in the creative process and the students in the development of prototypes for campaign messages. Célina’s group had the best idea and went on to a brainstorm session on the campaign’s development with Wefilm’s creative team in Amsterdam. The team of students is currently working on promoting the campaign so that as many people as possible can be reached and the campaign becomes as effective as possible.
The research report can be requested by mailing lectoraat.tm@nhlstenden.com. For more information on the research into vaping and young adults, please contact professor Bianca Harms on bianca.harms@nhlstenden.com or visit the project page.