Challenge
As public safety concerns grew in downtown Burlington, so did the need for community-driven solutions. The Community & Workplace Violence Task Force asked us to help create a campaign that encourages hope, shared responsibility, and a sense of community, while empowering Vermonters—especially those in Burlington—to be part of positive change.
Goals
- Spread awareness of the small acts of community message and how everyone can do their part.
- Drive target audience to sign up for and complete the campaign challenge.
- Develop tools for community businesses and individuals to help promote behavior expectations when in public spaces.
- Build a reusable framework for community initiatives.
Outcomes
- 5.8k unique visitors and 6.6k visits total to the campaign website within the first three months of campaign
- 10k page views within the first three months of campaign
- Over 450 community members took the pledge and accepted the challenge
Community tool kit
We designed a downloadable kit for community members and businesses—whether retail, medical, tourism, or government—to easily use and share. It included:
- Store window clings with messaging tailored for retail, medical, and government spaces
- Social media assets including posts, story templates, and profile takeovers
- TV screen graphics for public displays
- Flyers for in-person outreach and bulletin boards
- Email blast elements for digital communication
- Powerpoint presentation to help provide trainings in how to respond when faced with negative behavior
All collateral linked back to our custom website, driving users to sign the pledge, share their acts of community and spread the movement!
Pop up community events
We wanted this to be more than just a digital experience, so we took the challenge to community spaces across Burlington—focusing on locations open to everyone.
At these events, people could:
- Sign the pledge on our 8-ft pop-up banner
- Snap a photo in our selfie frame or while signing the pledge to share on social media
- Grab takeaways like hats, pins, and magnets and kiddo activity sheets to spread the movement throughout the city and beyond
This is an exciting movement to ensure our wonderful region is a place where everyone feels safe and comfortable … by participating and committing to performing acts of community, we are holding ourselves accountable to be part of making things better.
Jason Williams, Interim Chief External Relations Officer at University of Vermont Health Network
