Lets Keep Crime Down - Home Office Acquisitive Crime Campaign

Dec 2009 - Feb 2010

 

Background

 

The Home Office are running a national ‘lets keep crime down’ acquisitive crime marketing campaign starting on 26 December 2009, to help prevent crime from rising by reminding the public that there are simple steps you can take to protect yourself from becoming a victim of crime, without raising fear of crime. Having run, award winning Acquisitive crime campaigns in the past, this campaign will be an evolution of the previous campaigns, focussing on burglary, theft from vehicles, robbery and identity fraud.

 

Communications objectives of campaign

 

1.       The objective of the marketing campaign is to help people minimise their risk of becoming a victim of burglary, theft from vehicles, robbery and identity crime. The over-riding message will be to advise the public that there are really simple things they can do to protect their property and identity.

 

   Importantly, in achieving this objective the Home Office have taken all the necessary steps to avoid:

 

·    Inadvertently increasing perception or fear of crime by implying the risk is higher than it was before.

·    Suggesting responsibility for crime prevention lies disproportionately with the public: instead, the intention is to empower through educating as to how to minimise risk.

 

All advertisements and messages have been tested with the public and key Home Office partners, using an independent qualitative research agency, to ensure that they empower the audience and do not raise fear of crime.

 

Target Audiences

 

The target audience varies according to crime type:

 

·         Burglary: Young urbanites, students, vulnerable low income households often with poor or no security measures and no insurance. Pensioners vulnerable to distraction burglary (we are working closely with Help the aged to reach these audiences)

·         Theft from vehicles: Commuters, young, male, Black Minority Ethnic. Urban car owners, City centre households, low income areas.

·         Robbery: men aged 16-24 are particularly at risk; men have a higher risk than women, but women are more fearful of becoming a victim; those with mixed ethnicity have a higher risk of robbery; those who visit nightclubs once a week or more; students and school children.

·         ID Fraud:  Professionals 26-50 in urban locations. 55% of internet users are e-shoppers who are up-market and 15-44. Most likely to be a victim of men aged 35-44 and women aged 16-24.

 

 

Strategy and shape of the campaign

 

The strategy of the campaign will take a three pronged approach:

 

·         A broadcast ‘refresh’ strand reminding people of  the steps they need to take to protect themselves from burglary with ID fraud (offline) messages woven in – informing people that documents lying around can be valuable to those wishing to steal ID Fraud

·         A ‘remind’ strand focussing mainly on Theft from Vehicle (reminding people to lock their cars and remove valuables at the point when and where the crimes occur such as petrol stations and car parks.) and reminding people how to keep their ID safe online. There will also be online Burglary digital display to remind people when turning off their computers at night to lock their doors and also digital display ID theft messages. The robbery strand of the campaign to be developed is likely to include targeted outdoor advertising at transport hubs.

·         Local ‘reassurance’ through local press Featurelink (advertorials in local newspapers), this will give us a chance to show what our partners such as the police and CDRP’s are doing at a local level to help reduce acquisitive crime. We will also use digital partnerships such as advertising on virtual communities such as social networking sites with ID fraud messages.

 

All marketing materials will direct the public to our campaign website page on Direct.gov.uk/ (TBC), where they can get further advice on how to minimise their chances of being a victim of crime.

 

Media channels and Key Messages

 

The following media channels will be used for each crime type:

 

Crime Type	Message	Media Channels
Burglary	Ø    Keep doors and windows locked Ø    Keep valuables and important documents out of sight Ø    Keep car keys out of reach/sight	Ø       National TV Ø       National Radio Ø       National Press Ø       Online Ø       Local press
Robbery	Ø    Keep your valuables out of sight when out and about	Ø       Out of home media (on and around public transport)
ID Fraud	Ø    Keep credit cards and documents out of sight. Think about what you bin/consider shredding Ø    Make sure you know who you are dealing with online	Ø       Messages will be woven into the burglary national TV, radio and press advertising media channels Ø       Bespoke online messages to appear on shopping websites Ø       Digital advertising on social networking sites
Theft from Vehicle	Ø    Keep belongings out of sight and lock your car when you leave it	Ø       Drive time regional radio Ø       Petrol Pumps Ø       Car park barriers Ø       Journey mapping websites

 

 

Timings

 

The campaign will start from 26 December and run until the end of Feb 2010.

 

Campaign Materials

 

New materials for this campaign including posters and a booklet containing acquisitive crime reduction advice and tips will be available to order by partners to use and distribute from the Home Office Crime Reduction catalogue. http://www.crimereduction.homeoffice.gov.uk/publicity.htm New campaign materials will be available from early January 2010.

 

For further information/Queries

 

For further information regarding the Home Office Acquisitive Crime campaign please contact Emma Keegan – emma.keegan@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk or 0207 035 6742.