Crime Concern
Campaign: "What if...?"
Aim: To recruit young men from BME communities in England as mentors, supporting young inner city boys at risk of offending. To respond to a need for mentors in Crime Concern's projects in London, Southampton, Liverpool, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Stoke, Nottingham and Sunderland.
Number of people involved: Approx. 6 (TimeBank IT and communications team)
Launched: 2003
Campaign description: 30,000 "What if?" flyers were distributed in target areas in barber shops, record shops, gyms, nightclubs (particularly those hosting Asian music, reggae, African music nights). TimeBank secured a partnership with the Ethnic Media Group. EMG gave £100,000 worth of free advertising space in their newspaper and magazine titles (in return TimeBank purchased approx. £5000 worth of advertising from them).
PR work: TimeBank ran a survey of the young people involved in Crime Concern projects. They used the results to make the "What if?" campaign newsworthy and secured free editorial coverage to compliment the advertising campaign.
Online campaign: TimeBank also secured free online advertising space from Google and placed banner adverts. The click through adverts took people to the "Miss CC Stops Crime" online game. The aim of the game was to engage people in the mentoring campaign. TimeBank also placed links to the game on a variety of websites (such as BBC Action Network and BBC Crimewatch). A total of 7,000 people played the game. TimeBank also created a "What if?" web page for Crime Concern, which featured case studies of mentors and an easy online registration form.
Outside agencies involved: TimeBank and Harry Monk Design for the flyers.
Results: 2,500 volunteers registered their interest in becoming a mentor with Crime Concern following the campaign. 60% of those were from BME backgrounds. 76% of the volunteers were aged 18-35.
Contact: Sharon Tynan www.TimeBank.org.uk
