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Don't Take
The Bait

Don't Take
The Bait

Don't Take
The Bait

A PSA Campaign on Phishing Awareness

A PSA Campaign on Phishing Awareness

TIMELINE

2 Weeks
2025

2 Weeks
2025

CONTEXT

Advertising

Campaign

Advertising Design Class Project

ROLE

Individual

Designer

Individual
UX/UI Design

Individual

Designer

TOOLS

Figma
Photoshop
Illustrator

TOOLS

Figma
Photoshop

Figma
Photoshop

CREATIVE BRIEF

CREATIVE BRIEF

CREATIVE BRIEF

The Problem. The Plan.

The Problem. The Plan.

The Problem. The Plan.

Phishing is the most undertalked yet most prevalent form of cybercrime. This campaign aims to reach everyday internet users (ages 18 to 65) with a tone that is friendly, direct, and honest.

Phishing is the most undertalked yet most prevalent form of cybercrime. This campaign aims to reach everyday internet users (ages 18 to 65) with a tone that is friendly, direct, and honest.

01

Research Background

Phishing attempts to steal identity and money by impersonating trusted companies through fake messages and websites.

Phishing attempts to steal identity and money by impersonating trusted companies through fake messages and websites.

Phishing attempts to steal identity and money by impersonating trusted companies through fake messages and websites.

02

Target Audience

Target Audience

Ages 18–65. Social media users concerned about their online privacy and personal data security.

Ages 18–65. Social media users concerned about their online privacy and personal data security.

Ages 18–65. Social media users concerned about their online privacy and personal data security.

03

Project Objectives

Project Objectives

Spread awareness of phishing dangers. Teach people how to avoid attacks. Prompt them to think before they click.

Spread awareness of phishing dangers. Teach people how to avoid attacks. Prompt them to think before they click.

Spread awareness of phishing dangers. Teach people how to avoid attacks. Prompt them to think before they click.

04

Call to Action

"Don't take the bait. Learn more about Phishing." Direct users to an educational website.

"Don't take the bait. Learn more about Phishing." Direct users to an educational website.

"Don't take the bait. Learn more about Phishing." Direct users to an educational website.

05

Campaign Tone

Campaign Tone

Straightforward. Friendly. Honest. Informational, approachable enough to lower defenses, direct enough to land.

Straightforward. Friendly. Honest. Informational, approachable enough to lower defenses, direct enough to land.

Straightforward. Friendly. Honest. Informational, approachable enough to lower defenses, direct enough to land.

06

Strategic Approach

Strategic Approach

Educate through multiple touchpoints: posters, transit, billboard, and mobile, reaching audiences in their everyday environments.

Educate through multiple touchpoints: posters, transit, billboard, and mobile, reaching audiences in their everyday environments.

Educate through multiple touchpoints: posters, transit, billboard, and mobile, reaching audiences in their everyday environments.

KEY STATISTICS

KEY STATISTICS

KEY STATISTICS

3.4B

OF ALL EMAILS WERE SPAM IN 2022

100M

83%

PHISHING EMAILS BLOCKED BY GOOGLE DAILY

3.4B

48%

100M

83%

SPAM EMAILS SENT DAILY

OF ALL EMAILS WERE SPAM IN 2022

PHISHING EMAILS BLOCKED BY GOOGLE DAILY

PHISHING EMAILS BLOCKED BY GOOGLE DAILY

DELIVERABLES

What Was Made.

Four media touchpoints designed to reach audiences across physical and digital spaces.

CONCLUSION

A campaign built to make people pause, think, and act before they click.

  • This project aimed to make an invisible threat feel real. Phishing hides behind familiar visuals, so the campaign reflects that by looking trustworthy at first and then revealing the risk.

  • Through posters, a bus shelter ad, a billboard, and a mobile game interstitial, Don’t Take the Bait creates multiple moments of awareness in everyday settings.

  • A subtle fish hook metaphor ties everything together, and the tone stays friendly and honest so the message feels engaging instead of fear driven.

REFLECTION

What worked. What Grew.

The fish hook metaphor worked well across all formats, making the idea instantly clear while keeping the visuals minimal and cohesive. One of the biggest challenges was balancing a friendly tone with real urgency, which took multiple iterations to land on something honest without feeling too casual or too alarmist.

Overall, the project strengthened my ability to communicate clearly through simple visuals and pushed me to adapt one idea across different contexts, especially thinking about attention and interruption in the mobile ad.

QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER IMPROVEMENT

What would make this campaign even stronger?

  • How would this campaign perform with real user testing?

  • How would you measure whether this campaign actually changed behaviour?

  • Could social media have been a stronger primary channel than physical OOH?

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