Media: Strategy Analysis - Using Grime to stop black gun crime.(Metropolitan Police Service of London tries to convey the dangers of gun culture)

 
Project: Trident 
Client: Metropolitan Police Service 
Brief: Discourage young Londoners from getting involved with guns 
Target audience: 11- to 16-year-old black boys in London's gun crime 
hotspots 
Budget: pounds 200,000, including production and media partnerships 
 
AGENCIES 
Creative: Miles Calcraft Briginshaw Duffy 
Media planning and buying: MediaCom 

Trident is a dedicated police operation that works in close partnership with the black community in order to tackle gun crime. In 2005 to 2006, a new trend began to emerge: Trident offenders and victims were getting younger and graduating to gun crime faster. The task for this campaign, therefore, was to dissuade 11- to 16-year-old black boys in London from getting involved with guns in the first place.

Our approach was to challenge the perceived glamour of gun culture through channels that our audience listened to and respected, with the Trident brand very much in the background. We enlisted the help of an East London 'Grime' collective called Roll Deep.

EXECUTION

- Content: Roll Deep is popular with black kids in London, and Grime is known for its realistic take on life - as opposed to the 'bling bling' approach of LA-based hip hop.

Roll Deep wrote a track called Badman that tells the real story of the circle of pain that comes with involvement with guns. Miles Calcraft Briginshaw Duffy then asked Jake Nava (who directed the video for Beyonce's Crazy in Love and Kelis' Milkshake) to direct a music video/short film using the Badman track.

The gritty promo tells the story of a black teenager who accidentally shoots an innocent girl during a stand-off in a London estate and how this single shooting turns his life into a living nightmare.