code: SEVERE
National Counter Terrorism Police
Issue 43 | June 2017
Agency
AMV BBDO
Creative Team
Creative Directors Steve Jones, Martin Loraine Copywriters Nicholas Hulley, Martin Loraine Art Directors Nadja Lossgott, Steve Jones
Production Team
Agency Producers Anita Sasdy, Frankie Burwell-Wright Media Agency MediaCom Production Company Unltd. Productions Director Dominic Savage Account Team Tom Shattock, Max Proctor, Danielle Betts
Other Credits
Clients Assistant Commissioner of Special Operations Mark Rowley NCTP Comms Team Suzanne Colmer, Pippa Eames, Alastair Campbell, Nikki Redmond, Chris Cairns
Date
August – March 2017
Background
On July 7th 2005, three bombs were detonated by Islamists in Central London, killing 56 people and injuring 700.
After bombings in Brussels and Paris, it was clear that London was still a major target for terrorists.
Idea
The insight behind the campaign was that the death toll in London could have been worse, were it not for members of the public reporting suspicious behaviour.
Code: SEVERE was designed to encourage more people to keep their eyes open and help the Metropolitan Police avert tragedy.
It comprised a series of podcasts, telling the true stories of terrorist attacks from the files of U.K. Counter Terrorism Police, as told by the officers, witnesses and the terrorists themselves.
The writers were given unprecedented access to actual archive and surveillance recordings as well as to interviews with both officers and witnesses.
A campaign of radio commercials drove listeners to the podcasts on Acast, iTunes and on the police's own channels.
Results
Unknown
Our Thoughts
Since this campaign was aired in early March 2017, an Islamist attacker drove a car along London's Westminster Bridge, killing six people.
London is a major target for terrorists and it is to the credit of the security forces that so many attempts to create mayhem have been foiled.
Now that podcasts are massively on the rise, since they have become so easy to download, it's fascinating that the agency has chosen this new form of radio to tell their stories.
The podcasts work brilliantly because of the authenticity of the voices you hear – the woman who noticed the guy unloading so many bags of fertiliser (used in bomb making), the suspect picked up on a planted microphone talking about the girls he planned to blow up in a nightclub...
My bet is that the number of downloads since the most recent attack will have increased.
Great news. Every voice helps keep the killers from fulfilling their murderous ambitions.