In 2021 we created the Respect the Range campaign pilot for the DIO, to inform locals near two military ranges of the duality of usage of the land and the risks of straying into live firing ranges. This year the DIO expanded this campaign out to 4 new coastal military range locations.

Through extensive research we identified two key audience groups to target where we could have the biggest impact:

1.     Visitors: we identified a strong correlation between incursions at coastal locations and peak holiday season.  

2.     Locals: we wanted to remind of the ranges and empower to inform visiting holidaymakers. 

We needed to get people visiting/already in the area around firing ranges, who don’t know where the ranges are or the dangers of dual use of land/sea, to check firing times, stay out of the range when in use and avoid touching UXO, by snapping them out of ‘holiday-head’ mode and into alert mode.

The campaign was timed just before the summer holidays, when there were most likely to be tourists and locals exploring the beach locations. The campaign focused on two channels – a national PR stunt to kick off the campaign and reach holidaymakers before they arrived, and paid media to provide ongoing awareness of the risks. To maximise the budget, we needed to create a stunt in one location that would be eye-catching and newsworthy enough to generate national coverage, not just in local media. We wanted a visual that could communicate the duality of the message and convey the risk of beach turning into a battleground in just minutes.

We selected the beautiful beach location of Lulworth Bay close to a military range and worked with ‘Sand In Your Eye’ to create a striking piece of anthropomorphic beach art in the form of a chinook helicopter, stretching more than 110m wide with a real family of holidaymakers with colourful beach paraphernalia part of the photo. We worked with PA media to capture timelapse footage and create a newsreel that appeared in multiple national outlets including both the Guardian’s and BBC’s picture of the day. Alongside this, a smaller sculpture was created alongside banners to engage and inform members of the public on the beach.  

The paid media built on the previous creative style indicating how quickly a calm environment can turn into a dangerous one if you aren't aware of the military training times. The creative used the split image style adapted for the coastal environments.

Evaluation showed PR and paid media both exceeded the KPIs. For PR 31 outlets were reached, including 6 nationals. Paid media saw 12m impressions across social media and display. Across all of the respondents we found (across residents and visitors the results were similar): those checking firing times increased by 5.5% to 65.5% and understanding that training estates are for dual use increased by 25% to 60.5%