High Costs

The City and County of Denver partnered with Amélie to prevent underage marijuana use through a campaign that trusted teens to make their own decisions—when given the facts. Since its launch in 2017, High Costs has become a proven, behavior-shifting youth prevention initiative. With teen marijuana use on the rise and access at an all-time high, Amélie was tasked with evolving the campaign in 2023 to resonate more strongly with middle schoolers while maintaining impact with high schoolers.

Marijuana is legal in Colorado and deeply normalized in teen culture. With over 200 dispensaries in Denver and the legalization of home delivery, youth exposure and access are more prevalent than ever. Research showed that while the original High Costs campaign successfully decreased usage among high school students, usage among middle schoolers remained unchanged. Teens were skeptical of traditional “just say no” messages. They needed credible, peer-relevant information—not scare tactics. Middle schoolers in particular weren’t thinking about long-term consequences like scholarships or jobs. To make an impact, the campaign had to meet teens where they are: in their emotions, routines, and digital spaces.

Amélie built High Costs to empower Denver youth with facts so they could make informed decisions about marijuana. From the start, the campaign used bold, metaphor-driven creative to show how weed could disrupt things teens care about: school, sports, friendships, and future goals. As the marijuana landscape evolved, so did the campaign. High Costs 2.0 refined the strategy to resonate with younger teens by focusing on short-term impacts like motivation, mood, and focus. The line “Weed steals you away from your real life” captured this shift, pairing credible science with relatable content. Co-created with youth advisors, the campaign spanned school posters, social media, digital video, and interactive tools—designed to meet teens where they are developmentally and digitally. It’s a campaign that’s grown with its audience, staying relevant, respected, and results-driven.

Since its launch, High Costs has demonstrated measurable success in both reach and impact:

• Behavior Change: In a campaign survey, 81% of teens who recalled the campaign said it made them less likely to use marijuana—affirming the power of fact-based, youth-centered messaging.
• Media Reach: The campaign has delivered over 120 million impressions since 2017, including:
  • 83M+ impressions in 2019 across paid media, social, PR, and web.
  • 35M+ in 2020, maintaining reach during a pandemic-adjusted year.
  • 4.1M in 2021, with reduced media weight but continued engagement.
  • 22.9M+ impressions in FY24, driven by targeted digital, OOH, and school-based placements.
• Digital Performance: FY24 website activity included over 30,000 sessions, with strong average time-on-page and user engagement with interactive content like the “My Real Life” quiz.
• Public Health Impact: According to the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey, marijuana use among high school students in Denver declined following the campaign’s launch—even as access increased through retail expansion and legalization of delivery.

Community Engagement: Materials were widely adopted by schools and youth-serving organizations, with thousands of posters and toolkits distributed citywide.