Taking action on addiction.
Using community engagement to create an advert which aimed to change attitudes and behaviours towards addiction and help start a meaningful conversation about addiction in all its forms.
More +Harm reduction without judgement.
A national ketamine awareness campaign giving young adults clear, practical information to reduce harm, recognise early warning signs and seek support sooner without scare tactics, stigma or judgement.
The mission
Making safer information easier to hear.
Ketamine use is increasing among young adults, alongside growing concern about physical and mental health harms including bladder and kidney damage, tolerance and dependency.
Turning Point wanted to reach people aged 18-30, particularly those in student and nightlife settings, with information that could genuinely help reduce harm.
The challenge was getting the tone right. Simply telling people not to use ketamine risked alienating the very audience the campaign needed to reach. Instead, the campaign needed to acknowledge the reality that some people will use ketamine and give them credible, accessible information to help them make safer choices and recognise when they may need support.
Our approach
No scare tactics. No judgement. Just useful information.
We developed Know Your K, a bold harm reduction campaign built around informed choice, early intervention and practical action.
The creative approach deliberately avoided sensationalising or moralising drug use. Instead, the campaign used simple, direct language and a calm, factual tone – creating space to talk openly about risk while giving people practical ways to reduce it.
Four themes shaped the campaign: understanding the effects of ketamine; thinking about set, setting and sitter; practical ways to reduce harm; and recognising early signs of bladder damage and knowing when to seek help.
At every stage, the principle was the same: give people information they can actually use, whether or not they are ready to stop using ketamine.
The campaign
KNOW. YOUR. K.
We created a distinctive campaign identity designed to feel relevant in the environments and channels where younger audiences would encounter it.
Bold typography, energetic colour and imagery rooted in nightlife and real-life situations helped the campaign stand apart from traditional health communications, while straightforward copy kept the message accessible.
Content moved between immediate, practical prompts such as looking after your mates and avoiding mixing substances, and more serious early-intervention messages around bladder health and other warning signs.
A short quiz encouraged people to test what they knew about ketamine, while social content, reels and shareable campaign assets gave Turning Point and its partners a way to reinforce harm reduction messages throughout Ketamine Awareness Week.
Extending the reach
From young adults to the people supporting them.
The campaign was designed to work beyond Turning Point’s own channels.
We developed a communications toolkit containing ready-to-use social assets and copy for Instagram, TikTok and Facebook, giving services, partners and stakeholders a consistent way to amplify the campaign.
Alongside public-facing activity, the campaign supported professional engagement, including a national webinar for frontline healthcare professionals covering ketamine-related harms, early signs of bladder injury and effective harm reduction conversations with young adults.
This created two routes to earlier intervention: helping people who use ketamine recognise risk themselves, while strengthening awareness among the professionals and services they may turn to for support.
The impact
A different way to talk about drug-related harm.
Know Your K demonstrated how harm reduction communications can be clear about serious risks without relying on fear.
The campaign translated complex and sensitive health information into practical messages people could understand and act on. Rather than positioning its audience as a problem to be solved, it recognised their situation and gave them information that could help them reduce risk, look after each other and seek support earlier.
It also created a flexible set of campaign assets that Turning Point, its services and partners can continue to use beyond Ketamine Awareness Week, extending the value of the work into ongoing harm reduction and early intervention activity.
Most importantly, the campaign created a credible way into a difficult conversation: meet people where they are, give them the facts and help them make safer choices.
