The Campaign

The current perception is that being a cop requires physicality and toughness, while it’s true in part, modern policing is more about working with communities and understanding the people within them to make a change for the better. That’s why we targeted recruits who strongly identify with qualities like empathy and compassion. To make our point clear we wanted to show our audience exactly the type of person we were looking for. We secretly filmed a series of social experiments that highlighted real-life situations and how the public reacted, showing those who stepped up and helped others in need. These films were released online using social channels. In this film a young man clearly intoxicated attempts to get on his scooter to drive home after having a few drinks. Over 18mins of filming, around 230 people had the opportunity to intervene and only 13 did.

Creative Execution

Following a month of engagement, the third film from the social experiment was posted on the NZ Police recruitment page and within hours of a press release, was once again a hot topic on local news and media sites. The conversation around our ad was further heightened by a sneak peek viewing on national TV driving viewers to the full video. Over the next couple of days the experiment grew, once again being picked up by global news sites including the Daily Mail UK and Daily Telegraph Australia.

The campaign over achieved in all criteria. Our core objective was to increase the number of female recruits and ethnic minorities: Currently NZ Police comprises of 19% female officers, we achieved 41% female applicants – a gender increase of 115%. Currently NZ Police comprises of 20% ethnic officers, we achieved 45% ethnic applicants – a minorities increase of 125%. 3.9+million views on the NZ Police recruitment page since launch 50,000 reactions, 6000 comments and 17,000 shares on the NZ Police page And an estimated global reach of over 60 million across the campaign

Research confirmed that our target audience of 18-29 year olds are a generation that cares. They are inspired by ideals, want to live in a better world, support worthy causes and actively seek employers with a purpose. What they didn’t know about themselves was that they were already on the tipping point of becoming Police - they just needed help over the line. We needed to show them that a career in the Police Force was their opportunity to create change and make their community a better place. Our creative idea therefore needed to act as the catalyst that would trigger a “moment of realization” amongst our audience giving them the impetus to act. The creative platform was built around the call to action; Do you care enough to be a cop?