ONE CHICAGO FAMILY

| GOVERNMENT/HEALTHCARE

Helping infants sleep safely

Empowering parents and caregivers across Illinois to make safe sleep choices for their infants

Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID) continues to be the leading threat to life for babies up to one year old. These deaths often occur in unsafe sleep environments, and disparities persist in infant mortality rates by race and ethnicity. “Safe sleep practices” are things parents and caregivers can do to keep babies safe while sleeping, significantly decreasing the likelihood of SUID.

The Chicago Department of Public Health, in partnership with agencies across Illinois, is spreading the word about safe sleep practices – ensuring every parent and caregiver has the information and resources to keep their babies safe. Bigmouth was tasked with creating a brand, campaign, website and collateral for a program with the power to save lives.

CLIENT

Chicago Department of Public Health

INDUSTRY

Health/Government

SERVICES

Research and stakeholder interviews
Brand workshop
Identity
Design systems
Content strategy
User experience
Social media
Website
Integrated campaign
Printed
Collateral
Video

RESEARCH/WORKSHOPS

Getting real input from real parents

We started by connecting with real Chicago parents — folks most in need of CDPH’s support and services. Their input helped ensure our messaging and campaigns connected in a helpful, meaningful way.

Bigmouth surveyed parents and caregivers across zip codes, ethnicities, ages, genders and income levels. We conducted in-person workshops in English and Spanish to ask questions, test concepts and, ultimately, learn what real parents need to hear and how they want to hear it.

RESEARCH/WORKSHOPS

Getting real input from real parents

BRAND + IDENTITY

Creating a brand parents can trust

This CDPH program was designed to help parents, caregivers and providers across Illinois learn about safe sleep practices, share important information, and get the support they need, and it needed an easily recognizable name and logo.

Clarity came with the name – Illinois Safe Sleep Support. A crucial piece of that name is “support;” we wanted parents and providers to understand that this is more than a campaign. Illinois Safe Sleep Support represents the city and state showing up to give parents whatever they need to keep their babies safe while sleeping.

The logo is a warm, inviting representation of state agencies, partners, and community organizations coming together to improve health outcomes for infants and families. When audiences see this logo, they know the information comes from a trusted source.

MAIN LOGO

DESCRIPTOR

Safe sleep

saves lives

Primary Audience

Secondary Audience

Campaign Objectives

MESSAGING STRATEGY

Empowering parents with life-saving information

Advice comes at new parents from all angles, and it can be tough to keep up or know what to trust. Our research showed some parents feel like they’re constantly hammered with information about safe sleep practices, some get mixed messages from different sources, and others feel they were never given the necessary information.

Parents described other safe sleep campaigns as fear-driven, intimidating, and judgemental. We knew our messaging needed to take a different approach. We considered the parents we were speaking to – exhausted, overwhelmed, and faced with endless daily decisions about their babies’ safety. We communicated our message in a clear and compassionate way and focused on accessibility features that would meet the specific needs of our audiences, helping them feel confident and empowered to make the safest decisions for their babies.

PRINTED COLLATERAL

Instilling confidence, not fear, in new parents

Printed materials like posters, point-of-services cards, and provider handouts were another opportunity to move away from the clinical, intimidating feel of fear-based campaigns. We wanted our materials to feel both approachable and informative. So we combined warm colors, photography featuring real Chicago families, and playful design elements with clear, supportive language.

WEBSITE

Designing a destination for safe sleep resources

The Illinois Safe Sleep Support website was an opportunity to put all of the important safe sleep information for parents, caregivers and providers in one place. We designed the page to be clear and easy to read, but also made sure it had every piece of information CDPH’s audiences might need – from statistics, to swaddling guidance, to downloadable materials.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Spreading the word on social

We created a variety of social content to continue getting critical safe sleep information to families across Illinois. Each piece focused on communicating important information in a quick, powerful, engaging way – introducing audiences to this new program, highlighting statistics, equipping them with digestible “safe sleep tips,” and more.

@chipublichealth October is Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) Awareness Month and Infant Safe Sleep Awareness Month. Learn about the safest ways for your baby to sleep, tips and support. Get doctor-recommended sleep guidance, answers to your sleep safety questions, and more at OneChiFam.org/SafeSleep. #newbabytips #baby #infant #sleeptips #safesleep #babytips #newparents #babylounger #Babyswing #carseat ♬ original sound - ChiPublicHealth

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by CDPH (@chipublichealth)

@chipublichealth #SafeSleep Tip Q: Can my baby :baby: sleep in the bed with me? What if we fall asleep :zzz: on the couch together? A: Find out about co-sleeping at OneChiFam.org/SafeSleep #BabyTip ♬ original sound - ChiPublicHealth

DIGITAL SIGNAGE, INFLUENCER, PAID MEDIA

Using every avenue to expand our reach

With such a critical message to convey, it was more important than ever to reach as many people as possible. We used a number of strategies to connect with CDPH’s audiences in a real and relatable way, from hosting safe sleep events with Chicago health and parenting influencers, to featuring real Chicago families in signage across the city, and creating educational video ads. These efforts do more than drive awareness – they ensure target audiences have the information they need, know where to go to learn more, and have the opportunity to interact with experts.

OOH AND TRANSIT SIGNAGE

Speaking to Chicagoans on the move

Chicagoans completed 279 million CTA trips in 2023, making buses and trains a great place to get the word out about Safe Sleep. Riders may have just a few seconds to read an advertisement, so the Bigmouth team chose eye-catching images and succinct copy to drive audiences online for more information.