Simmply Active: Taking Knife Crime Awareness to the Streets of London

The Brief

Saymore PR commissioned Press Association Assignments to support Simmply Active’s ‘Younger Than You Think’ National Knife Crime Awareness campaign, launched in partnership with TBWA\MCR. The campaign aimed to challenge the misconception that children are only exposed to knife carrying during their teenage years, highlighting the need for earlier conversations and intervention. A branded digital advertising van travelled through Westminster, taking the message directly into busy public spaces. Our role was to create striking photography that captured the campaign in recognisable London locations and helped turn the awareness activity into a strong visual news story with the potential to reach a much wider audience through editorial coverage.

Challenge & Solution

The campaign needed imagery that would immediately communicate the message while working effectively for editorial use. We photographed the branded digital advertising van across recognisable Westminster locations, using the movement, setting and public visibility of the activation to create eye catching content for media. Alongside the photography, we produced tagged Hydrogen copy for the PA wire, giving publishers a ready to use story supported by strong visual assets. The story generated enough editorial interest for PA News to produce its own additional piece, demonstrating how a well constructed campaign story can move beyond branded content and into mainstream news coverage.

Results

More than 170 pieces of coverage.

Press Association News also wrote its own story, after recognising the strength of the news angle. A campaign that started as branded activity had moved into mainstream news.

Coverage used our photography and handout imagery supplied by the client. Simmply Active praised our responsiveness, clarity and proactive approach, and said the results spoke for themselves.