In collaboration with the County of Monterey Public Health Department, the Office of Traffic Safety, and youth advisors, the Social Changery created a DUI-prevention campaign that truly resonated with youth. The campaign was part of Decoded, our youth-focused substance use prevention campaign designed to deliver authentic, relatable, and fact-based messaging. To bring those themes to life, we built the campaign off the internet trend of the moment: Hot Girl Summer.

With taglines like “Hot girl summers don’t include DUIs” and “Skip the drive if you’re high and save $10,000,” this 2025 ad campaign blew past every performance benchmark. From July to September, the campaign generated 3.58 million impressions, exceeding its planned goal by 127%. Click-through rates reached 0.70%, far surpassing the public health standard of 0.08%, and reaching 668,000 youth across Monterey County.

The takeaway is clear: Bold, culturally grounded campaigns, when guided by harm-reduction principles and youth feedback, can significantly outperform traditional public health messaging.

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