Effie for the SIRE campaign in which we were allowed to participate

We are particularly proud of the bronze Effie who die SIRE received for the campaign 'Do you let your boy be a boy enough?' From our agency, Lars Ykema and Anne Backer were responsible for the press strategy and press guidance. The campaign generated a boom in publicity. The social discussion that arose as a result of this campaign was immense. SIRE has thus shown that it is uniquely capable of putting a new and underexposed issue on the map. Or like the jury of this prize indicated: The campaign has put a social issue on the map with a nice layering of media and resources. The Effie Awards are the most prestigious professional prize worldwide for the marketing and communications industry, where it must be demonstrated that communication has played an important and/or decisive role in achieving the stated result.

Brief information about the campaign

Boys learn and develop in a different way than girls. They learn more often by discovering, experimenting, taking risks and exercising a lot. In today's society less attention is paid to this. Boys who are not given enough space can therefore underperform, become insecure or have motivation problems. By portraying this situation in fairly black and white, SIRE has succeeded in getting educators to think about how they deal with boys and also initiating a social discussion. Knowing that this would rally both supporters and opponents and would result in both appreciation and scorn.

Some facts

• Boys are unconsciously reprimanded in class 3 times as often as girls for the same behavior
• Compared to girls, boys are diagnosed with ADHD 4 times more often and prescribed medication 5 times more often than girls
• Girls more often receive higher school advice than boys.
• Girls are approached much more positively in education due to their better developed social skills.
• There are three times as many boys as girls in appropriate education for children with learning and/or behavioral problems
• 56% of parents with boys recognizes the problem that boys are not given enough space and are therefore held back in their development.
• 44% of parents with boys (fathers and mothers) also sees this reflected in their own interactions with his/her boys
• 76% of parents with boys believe that this problem should receive more attention.
• 45% of parents with boys indicates that 'boy behavior' (physical/busy/tough) is suppressed in today's society.
• Experts believe that if we slow down boys, they will shut down, their self-confidence will decrease, their attitude will change to: 'it doesn't matter what I do anymore', they will lose concentration more quickly, their motivation will decrease and their performance will deteriorate.