Second Chance - Ban The Box
Business in the Community
Issue 29 | December 2013
Agency
Leo Burnett, London
Creative Team
Executive Creative Director Justin Tindall Creative Director Adam Tucker Creatives Hugh Todd Darren Keff Philip Meyler
Production Team
Director/ Production Company Dougal Wilson/Blink Producer Patrick Craig Editor Ed Cheeseman at Final Cut Post Production (Grade) MPC Sound Design Grand Central DoP Benjamin Todd Technical Director Peter Eichorn Digital Production Holler Digital Producer Camille Sims Digital Creative Director Charlie Martin
Other Credits
Account Team Alice Hooper Sarah Kay Sofia Sarkar Agency Planner Kit Altin Agency Producers Natalie Kozlowska Graeme Light
Date
October 2013
Background
Business In The Community is a business- led charity, which is able to engage over 330 senior business-leaders around the UK. Its ambition is to provide young people, especially those who are socially disadvantaged, with support from business to help them build successful working lives.
The organisation wanted to raise awareness of the prejudice faced by ex- offenders when they try to return to work.
The Ban the Box campaign was designed to get support for legislation to remove the tick box from job application forms that asked about criminal convictions. Research had shown that 75% of employers used a criminal conviction as a reason to reject the candidate without giving candidates any chance to demonstrate their abilities.
Idea
An interactive film was created, featuring a young offender in his 20's talking directly to the viewer as a potential interviewer.
Replicating the familiar 'skip' button on YouTube pre-roll ads, the viewer had the opportunity to 'skip' the young man's appeal.
If the viewer continually tried to 'skip' listening to him, he became visibly more upset and explained how this behaviour was all too familiar to him. The constant rejection.
If the viewer did not 'skip', the candidate became increasingly confident and upbeat, ending by thanking the viewer for watching.
A title explained that it took less than 30 seconds to write off an ex-offender, appealing for them to be given a second chance.
At the end of the film a title appears explaining that it takes less than 30 seconds to write off an ex-offender, accepting that we all make mistakes and appealing for them to be given a second chance.
Results
Within a week of launch, the ad had been discussed in print, on radio and on television, with a special report on the BBC's 'One Show' by Iwan Thomas.
Our Thoughts
Directory exists to give little advertising innovations like this a fanfare (as well as product innovations like Durex Fundawear on pages 44-45 and technological innovations like the Tourism Victoria campaign on pages 38-39). It’s creative people asking, how can we take the familiar and make it suddenly surprising?
Taking the Skip feature and turning it into the central feature of the execution isn’t just a simple idea, it’s a never- been-done-before idea and that’s what makes it an effective idea. The first job of advertising is simply to break through your audience’s total indifference to what you have to say. I’m sure this will do that and help BITC achieve their objective of getting the tick box banned.