Sussex Police was due an Employer Brand revamp. A new recruitment campaign, launching in February 2019, was to be its first for nine years. With an initial target of 800 hires, a big part of the brief was to attract ‘non-police people’. This was a challenge but also an opportunity: to say something different to a new audience.
To dramatise the difficulty of the work faced by Sussex Police, the audience were posed with a simple but challenging question: ‘What have you done today?’ We wanted to change perceptions of the police by being confrontational, by asking people to look at themselves. We complemented this hard-hitting headline with gritty photography that placed real police officers front and centre, with no apology for the work they do. Not everyone would respond favourably to a pitch as provocative as this. But then a career as meaningful as Sussex Police isn’t for everyone.
I art directed the photoshoot and designed the brand toolkit. Photography used real officers from a range of genders and ethnic backgrounds, in action – for example, at a crime scene. The images were dark, strong, yet still warm, allowing for a positive engagement.
We focused on earned and owned social media, proactive PR and internal communications. BBC South East Today was given exclusive access to new recruits on patrol, including a female BAME officer, and interviewed them about their experiences in the service. We wrapped 10 of our vehicles in the recruitment visuals. These cars are used across the county, widening the exposure of the campaign in what would have been unused space. We also invested in paid advertising including train panels, digital screens in Brighton station and digital banners on sites where there was high traffic from under-represented groups. Images used in these materials focused on females and BAME individuals.
Results
61.4% year-on-year increase in applications
113.8% increase in female applications
117.9% increase in BAME applications
10% of applicants identify as LGBT+
