Sleep Council

Sleep deprivation is a problem for people of all ages across the UK - whether you're 14 or 30. People who haven't looked into it, don't know the consequences that come with lack of sleep. Memory damage, depression, weakening of the immune system, increased pain precipitators - these are just some of the consequences that people don't know about. These problems are minor if only surfaced for a short time but they could get serious if you consistently don't sleep enough, although there are unknown dangers too. Scientific studies show that people who are deprived of sleep perform much worse in day to day activities, driving whilst tired is worse than driving under the influence. If you struggle to keep your eyes open, and can't focus, you're probably too tired to drive. It makes your skin age faster, you lose motivation and quite frankly sleepiness increases risk of death.

But why are people sleep deprived?

There's a variety of things that can be culpable in why we're getting less sleep. In my opinion, the current technology is the biggest culprit for many reasons. With new technology, you can access anything you want in a matter of minutes - no matter what you're doing, playing scrabble, sending some last minute emails - it all directly engages you. On top of that the light from your phone or laptop is an active stimulant to your brain keeping you up further. For the employed it's even worse, students will have a 7 hour college day and then continue to work a minimum wage job for another 6 hours at night which makes them value their free time, which they don't get enough of. This makes them stay up later as they have things to do.

My Target Audience 

I chose teenagers between the age of 14-19. I think the problem of sleep deprivation is prime with people of this age. Teenagers and young adults are the primary users of the various social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and others. Looking at sleepfoundation.com, I found out that teenagers get the less sleep among all ages. I picked them because I think the problems listed above are more showing in younger people and they don't value their sleep enough because they might not have their priorities straight.  Experts from Harvard say that the average teenager needs 9 hours of sleep to be at their fullest and it's fundamentally ignored by teens. They say their is a 'subconscious' attitude that people want to show they can perform tasks on a low amount of sleep.

Even though people use new, screen-based technology that prevents them from sleeping, you can't blame them fully - young people have constant, natural hormone changes which prevent them from sleeping at certain times which isn't their fault. 

Communicating to my Audience

I think communicating to my audience wouldn't be too hard, as they spend multiple hours every day online and on social media. I would promote my campaign using social media adverts and on TV. 

Shows that fluctuate in viewing figures with teenagers would be a good time to promote my campaign, articles and websites. Shows like the X-Factor and I'm A Celebrity! Get Me Out Of Here would be the best times to advertise although they would most likely be extremely expensive so if they don't pay off it could result in a large money deficit for my company. Print posters could also work around popular areas and especially at college - as there are thousands of people walking past these noticeboards everyday.

I could also use viral marketing to promote my campaign as this appeals to teenagers. If the funds were available, I could also get a celebrity endorsement - someone who is in with teenagers so it will inspire them and maybe the message will mean more to them.

Slogan 

Get enough sleep, and your health you'll keep.

I think this slogan is good because teenagers care a lot about their appearance and how others see them, so they would care about their health so hopefully this appeals to them.