Influence Digital was tasked by Counter Terrorism Policing to develop a creative, social and OOH campaign to help make live music spaces safer, by providing young people with clear, memorable and actionable messages. It was important for us to develop a creative that was impactful, whilst in keeping with the look and feel of the venues and surroundings. We worked with live music partners to promote the #BeSafeBeSound campaign to a broad audience.
Our Brief
With terrorism being an ever-present threat, we set out to help make live music spaces safer. We were tasked to devise a campaign that connects with music fans, raising awareness of the threats and overcoming the barriers that stop people from reporting suspicious activity, without evoking fear or panic.
Our Objectives
- Provide the target audience with straight-forward safety advice around the signs of suspicious activity and how to report it
- Change behaviour within live music environments and normalise reporting suspicious activity
- Encourage industry-wide endorsement of the #BeSafeBeSound campaign and promote excellence in security-minded communications
Target Audiences
We aimed to engage young people aged between 16 and 24 who attend festivals and live music events, spanning a range of music genres, venues and locations.
Challenges
- Difficult message to communicate – We needed to get the tone and the language right, to be as concise and as relevant as possible. Reaching a younger demographic with a counter terrorism message meant that we had to appeal to them in a way that would encourage openness and not fear.
- How to adapt to live music scenarios – The scenario in which these messages would be seen are generally at live music events when people want to have fun and avoid thinking about serious topics such as terrorism. We had to adapt to the environment and consider all the barriers we could address in the creative.
- How to make people feel reassured – The message needed to avoid causing alarm or panic; rather, we wanted people to be vigilant and ready to act. It was also integral that people knew what to look out for, and how to respond if they see something out of place.
Our Response
We wanted to normalise reporting suspicious activity and empower live music event-goers to trust their instincts and report. We developed a creative route that was inclusive in its sentiment embracing the togetherness of live music. Through highly relatable pop-culture style creative and clear and simple messages, we created a suite of assets to be used by Counter Terrorism Policing, police forces and music partners throughout the summer festival period.
Our Creative/ Messaging
We had a very rigorous creative and messaging process; we used insight on the barriers to reporting paired with music references to inform the creative messaging.
The creative was successful due to this methodology:
Bold & colourful aesthetic
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Visual cues related to live music events i.e., speakers/ crowds/ spotlight
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Overcoming barriers using music idioms that have a double meaning i.e., Don’t dance around it
Results
The campaign exceeded expectations with endorsements from Glastonbury, Radio 1’s Big Weekend, Reading & Leeds Festivals, and many more. These key partners not only posted the campaign content on their social channels but showed the videos/stills on the main stage of the festivals – giving the message maximum exposure.
To date, the campaign has reached millions of music fans and been supported by over 50 festivals and live music venues.