We Think Twice™: Digital Media Campaign Designed with Teens, for Teens

Encouraging youth to create healthy futures

The need for youth empowerment in an age of unprecedented stress

Teenagers face a unique set of challenges that are amplified in a digital world. Research shows that there have been significant improvements over the last few decades in certain areas of youth risk behaviors, such as sexual activity and high-risk substance use. However, significant disparities persist by geography, household income, race/ethnicity, and sexual orientation. Today’s youth also face unprecedented stressors that are having a measurable impact on their mental health and well-being, including climate change, gun violence, and racial inequities. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically altered their formative years.

In short, youth need support, guidance, and evidence-based information to help them navigate their ever-evolving teen years in a world that is defined by change and uncertainty.

Partnering to create the We Think Twice youth empowerment campaign

To address these issues, the Administration for Children & Families’ (ACF’s) Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB) partnered with RTI International to create and implement the We Think Twice digital media campaign. The campaign aims to build teen knowledge and skills to form healthy relationships with peers and adults; set and work toward their goals; improve their leadership skills; take care of their mental health; and make healthy decisions related to sex, substance use, and other relevant topics.

We Think Twice is designed with teens and for teens. The campaign’s success is due, in large part, to youth involvement in content development from conceptualization through co-creation and iterative testing. As of 2024, over 400 youth from across the United States have been engaged in virtual and in-person focus groups and an online community developed by RTI called the We Think Twice Insiders where teens complete polls, journaling prompts, creative challenges, discussion forums, storyboarding, and journey mapping to inform campaign content.

Launching the We Think Twice website—the campaign’s hub

The award-winning youth empowerment website has been viewed by over 414,000 visitors since its launch. RTI engages its We Think Twice Insiders in innovative, human-centered design activities to ensure that all website products are responsive to teens’ needs and interests. The team also built a custom analytics dashboard that provides an at-a-glance snapshot of key performance indicators to help ACF’s FYSB leverage data-driven, actionable insights in real-time for continuous improvement.

Using social media engagement to reach teens

We Think Twice launched on Instagram and Facebook in July 2019 and has published over 1,000 social media posts, stories, and ads, reaching more than 13 million people. Content developed for social media is continually informed by the community of We Think Twice Insiders and analysis of social media metrics and social listening to gain the latest insights on youth trends.

The team uses a variety of strategies to boost engagement, including hosting contests and giveaways, which are often championed by youth Instagram influencers and organizations. Contests include:

• Create Your Future: A National Arts Contest, which involved 150+ teens whose original artwork was judged by a jury of teens; and
• Now You Try! Hobby Contest, which encouraged youth to showcase their hobbies and skills to educate and instruct their peers.

The campaign also engages a team of youth content creators who develop posts on a variety of youth-identified topics. The campaign’s Instagram account continues to outpace industry standards with an average organic engagement rate of approximately 8.5%.

Empowering teens with diverse online quizzes, games, and more

A key component of the campaign is a diverse collection of more than 45 mobile-friendly digital products, including Buzzfeed-style quizzes, games, videos, listicles, stories, infographics, playlists, and interactive tools. These products—showcased on the We Think Twice website—engage youth with important campaign content and direct them to useful resources. All products developed for the campaign utilize a positive youth development approach and cover a variety of topics, including sexually transmitted infections, the importance of consent, how to talk about mental health with adults, conflict resolution, parent-teen relationships, finding a mentor, mindfulness, managing anxiety, financial literacy, and more. These digital products are branded and coordinated with the messaging on We Think Twice’s social media channels to produce a cohesive campaign with a unifying message. 

Youth are involved every step of the way, from the concept phase to the development phase. For example, teens recorded and submitted their own videos for the Our Goals, Our Lives video series, which highlighted authentic stories of young people who have set and achieved their goals, made a difference in their communities, and shown resilience in the process. The series received an AVA Digital Award for short form web video. Teens are also featured in the Teens Ask the Experts video series, in which they have the opportunity to pose questions to national experts, such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Digital products for parents/caregivers and youth-serving professionals

The project team also produces complementary educational materials and tools exclusively for parents/caregivers and youth-serving professionals, such as federal Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention grantees, community organizations, schools, and after-school programs.

We Think Twice receives national awards

The We Think Twice campaign has been the recipient of multiple awards, including:

• two prestigious awards for the overall campaign,
• a first-place award from the National Association of Government Communicators for the website, and
• many awards for digital products and resources created for youth and youth-serving professionals, including two prominent American Public Health Association awards.