Multichannel: From TV to PC

Also as of Dec. 16, far more viewed the site for potential predators—43,661 visitors took 53,606 actions that moved beyond the homepage. StopAnOnlinePredator.org viewers could, for instance, click on the “Crimes and Consequences” tab and learn about lengthy prison stays that result from breaking laws, then click on “Resources” to find links to organizations that could help.

“I think the department would deem this campaign to be extremely successful,” Holland says.

“I think the biggest challenge we face in bringing Internet safety messages to communities is bridging that digital gap between parents and kids,” says Amber Lindsay, director of program development and outreach for the nonprofit, Internet Keep Safe Coalition, which teamed with the Department of Justice. “And often parents are scared to talk to their kids. So, I think, the main message was, ‘You don’t have to be a computer expert to keep your kids safe online.’”

Avi Savar, CEO of the marketing and communications agency Big Fuel of New York, which handled the campaign, took a storyline approach to the creative. To illustrate the point that computers can be unsafe even when children are safely at home, Big Fuel placed a strip club background in a bedroom behind an innocent-looking boy during one PSA. When his father entered to talk to the boy, their worlds appeared split between the father’s view of reality and the boy’s strip club view on his laptop.

“We don’t expect parents to know exactly what a social network is or what MySpace is,” Savar says. “The idea was to show parents where their kids could be. To put the child in a real-life backdrop.”