Homelessness in Brighton: A Growing Issue
Government figures show that homelessness across England has increased by 24% since last year! This has left Brighton and Hove Council with the second-highest rate of rough sleepers, second only to London Westminster. Undeniably, homelessness in Brighton is a serious issue.
Here at Arke, we don’t want to just sit back and inevitably see the situation worsen. We want to help in any way we can. With our experience in youth marketing; it was a no-brainer for us to volunteer our services to the local YMCA Youth Advice Centre (YAC).
Talk it Over
The unfortunate reality for young people (aged 13 to 25) is that the number one reason for becoming homeless is due to problems at home. YAC’s ‘Talk it Over’ project aims to raise awareness of this fact, while their Family Mediation service works hard to prevent it. The goal of Talk it Over is to improve relationships by empowering parents, carers and young people to talk through any difficulties they are having at home, in a safe environment. Ultimately, this will reduce youth homelessness in Brighton.
YAC’s work is vital, but they were having trouble reaching the audience they are trying to help. “We felt we had a knowledge gap on how to reach the audience that is most in need of our services.” Emma Brandenburger, Family Support Mediator at the Youth Advice Center.
How can vulnerable young people turn to YAC for support when they don’t even know that the ‘Talk it Over’ project exists?
How Arke Helped
We knew our experience could help fill the knowledge gaps amongst Emma and her team. So, our advertising experts provided YAC with guidance on how to create audience-specific marketing campaigns. We also advised on how to tailor imagery and messaging, making sure they resonate with both parents and young people.
“Arke helped us break down what we needed to do in terms of pictures, images and wording to get the most engagement from our audience.” Emma Brandenburger, Family Support Mediator at the Youth Advice Center.
Next, we supported YAC by running a paid advertising campaign informed by the messaging and imagery we’d pinned down.
The campaign achieved great results, significantly raising awareness of Talk it Over amongst YAC’s target audience. Over 170,000 local people were reached, with an audience split of 60% parents and 40% young people. But, the best result was the increase in both enquiries into and appointments with the Family Mediation service.
Looking to the Future
Of course, the problem of youth homelessness in Brighton is far from solved. There’s still a long way to go.
Arke will keep providing YAC with ongoing advertising and marketing support. The short-term goal is for YAC to receive approval for the ‘Google Grant Scheme’ to be granted an allowance of free advertising spend. With this money, the Talk it Over paid advertising campaign will be able to continue. The continuing campaign will give hope to more and more families who may be at their last resort and keep working towards the long-term goal of reducing youth homelessness in Brighton.
“We never once felt with Arke as if we were being blinded by science or asking any stupid questions. We want to thank Arke for the time, their professionalism, their tenacity with sorting out some of the ripples on the project. And also for their understanding of all our questions and for working so cooperatively with us. So, thank you for your time and your expertise.” Emma Brandenburger, Family Support Mediator at the Youth Advice Center.
