We’re proud to have recently worked with the Staffordshire Commissioner for Police, Fire & Rescue and Crime on an impactful behaviour change campaign, to help them tackle anti-social behaviour in ‘hotspot’ areas.
Within this brief we had three unique objectives:
Encourage the reporting of anti-social behaviour.
Discourage anti-social behaviour.
Improve education around ASB and PSPOs in the area.
Spread awareness about the consequences of anti-social behaviour and breaching a PSPO.
We subsequently segmented these aims into several different targeted campaigns under the overarching campaign ‘Every Action Counts’. This allowed us to achieve all of the above goals whilst reaching each target demographic.
In this blog, we’re going to take a deep dive into the results of each individual campaign and explore how these statistics may indicate successful behaviour change.
Proud Campaign
The Proud Campaign was targeted directly at those displaying anti-social behaviour with the aim of encouraging them to think through the consequences of their actions.
From collaboration with local police teams and councils, we established that the main demographic in many of the areas targeted is those aged between 13 and 25 years old.
Through behaviour change research we established that this age group wouldn’t respond to a gentle approach, and the most impactful method was to encourage them to think about their actions and the negative impact on those they care most about, in relation to themselves.
This campaign was published across all five key areas in various forms, reaching over one million people over the course of the campaign.
Print and Public Screens
- Four Proud campaign dibond boards were displayed in an anti-social behaviour hotspot in Burton-On-Trent, where it would be seen by multiple large groups of youths per day.
- Another anti-social behaviour hotspot was identified as Hanley’s Potteries Shopping Centre. So, we also displayed the Proud campaign imagery across two large screens inside the centre. We estimate that these were seen by around 100,000 people each week, resulting in a significant decrease in anti-social behaviour in the shopping centre by the end of the campaign.
- We distributed approximately 800 posters to contacts across Staffordshire, for further issuing to local businesses for display on high streets and further hotspots.
Social Media
- As part of our social media strategy, we utilised Snapchat Ads to reach 255,000 people aged 13-20 years within the target demographic, receiving over 2,000 clicks through to the client website.
- To reach a slightly older audience with our ‘Are you making your child proud?’ campaign material, we utilised Meta Ads targeted at users within the Staffordshire area. These performed best when shown to women aged 35-44, and were viewed a total of over 385,000 times.
Neighbourhood Reporting Campaign
The aim of this campaign was to encourage residents to report any anti-social behaviour that they witness. We did this by:
- Delivering around 5000 instructional flyers directly to households. Directing people to the ‘Every Action Counts’ website which contained reporting information on each area.
- Distributing thousands of reporting posters to local businesses to display and spread the message.
- Displaying the campaign material on digital screens and bus stops in and around known anti-social behaviour hotspots. These achieved an estimated viewership of around 430,000 people. Since the completion of this campaign, and the above Proud campaign, people that work in the Potteries Centre, and Centre Management have reported a significant reduction in anti-social behaviour in and around the area, which is a fantastic result.
“Anti-social behaviour in the centre is certainly better now than six months ago.”
– Becki, Manager, Potteries Shopping Centre.
By the end of the campaign, the ‘Report Anti-Social Behaviour’ button on the Every Action Counts homepage had received the highest click rate sitewide, further indicating that the campaign materials reached the right audience, encouraged them to report, and successfully guided them to the correct place to do so online.
PSPO Campaign
This campaign was focused on educating residents on the Public Spaces Protection Orders in place near them.
To increase knowledge on PSPOs, we used printed materials and the Every Action Counts website to:
- Provide information on their nearby PSPO.
- Define a PSPO breach.
- Raise awareness on the consequences of breaching a PSPO.
We designed and distributed informational flyers to over 3000 properties within the target PSPO areas across Staffordshire, alongside curating the Every Action Counts website to provide even further information.
Business Support Campaign
As part of our strategy to encourage continuous reporting of anti-social behaviour, we also wanted to speak to and reassure the local businesses. Our aim was to encourage them to continue reporting ASB by instilling confidence in their local Community Safety Partners efforts to tackle anti-social behaviour. To do this, we created and distributed over one thousand business support postcards to key contacts within the target locations, for them to provide to businesses in particularly low-confidence areas.
The feedback that we received from local businesses upon conclusion of the campaign was overwhelmingly positive. Many establishments praised it as an effective campaign, with multiple businesses reporting a decrease in anti-social behaviour in their local area. This is a fantastic result, as we have heard first-hand that businesses who had been negatively affected by anti-social behaviour in the past are now reporting real improvements in the wake of our campaigns.
Website Usage
The Every Action Counts website acted as a hub for all things anti-social behaviour. It contained any information residents or businesses would need to know about ASB, reporting ASB, and PSPOs.
The website attracted almost 5,000 visitors to the website, with the case study page achieving the most clicks and over 11,000 events. This page featured three video case studies that users could watch, shining a light on the impact of ASB and encouragement on turning your life around from anti-social behaviour.
The average time spent on this page indicated that people were engaged with all three videos, and a heat map analysis shows that they also frequently clicked on the tabs for their local areas after watching the videos. This indicates that the page successfully educated visitors on the consequences of anti-social behaviour, and led them to find out more.
The webpage for reporting anti-social behaviour also performed well, with the average-time and heat map suggesting users were spending long enough on the page to read through the information, then often showed users clicked to report anti-social behaviour in their local area.
Conclusion
We’re thrilled with the results of this campaign and the positive impact that it has had on communities across Staffordshire. If your organisation is also looking to drive positive change, get in touch with us today to discuss how a behaviour change campaign could spark the change that you want to see in your community, or further afield.
