Network Rail / Electrification safety
Reminding people of the danger they can’t see
Always on,
so always stay off
The Challenge
The Midland Main Line is being electrified as part of a £2billion upgrade. The electricity running through the lines is 100 times more powerful than the voltage used in houses, and ten times more than the electric chair. This level of power has many benefits and clears the way for quicker, quieter and greener trains to run on the line. But there will also be clear and present dangers too.
Our challenge was to successfully shift the perception of the danger from the train to the track, raise awareness of the upgrade and educate line-side neighbours on the dangers and benefits of the electrification programme.
The Insight
Electricity is a paradox.
On one hand it is a benign, benevolent force that powers our world and helps us live our lives. On the other hand, if misused, it has the power to cause severe harm.
The Platform for Change
We personified electricity as a dualistic character, communicating both the positives and negatives of electrification – delivering the key points in an intriguing and attention-grabbing way.
We applied the voice of this character to our entire behaviour change campaign including out of home media, print, digital, cinema and radio – personified by a Hollywood actor known for playing both villains and heroes.
Watch the cinema ad
Listen to the radio
But there was one crucial audience that don't pay attention to traditional campaigns – young people
We knew that they think of death and its effect on friends and family as an abstract concept. They don’t engage with public safety messages and wouldn’t listen to a large organisation like Network Rail. But they do spend up to 21 hours a week online, most frequently on YouTube.
So we partnered with Fully Focused, a youth-led social enterprise production company, and approached a number of schools near danger hotspots. Through facilitated workshops with over 250 secondary school children, they helped to co-create a believable storyline that addressed the issue.
Students during one of the workshops.
Image courtesy of Network Rail.
"Our workshop was fantastic! The workshop leaders engaged some of our most challenging students and inspired them to participate in a way that even our most experienced teaching staff struggle with. The students didn’t want the workshop to end and felt a real sense of pride that their ideas might contribute to a much bigger project and ultimately help get the message of rail safety out to other kids their age."
Head Teacher Quote
The result was ‘18’, a 33-minute short film, scripted by Shazia Rashid, directed by Teddy Nygh and filmed in and around the Midlands by a young crew.
18 stars acclaimed actors including Harry Kirton (from Peaky Blinders), Aimee Kelly (BAFTA nominated BBC Wolfblood star), Shaquille Ali-Yebuah (from Netflix’s iBOY) and Steve Oram (from TV series The End of the F***ing World) and dramatises what happens to a group of friends when one of them is electrocuted whilst trespassing on the railway.
Watch ‘18’ on YouTube
Impact
7.7m views
With 80,000 likes and 10,000 comments on YouTube
60%
of all views are by our core audience of 13-24 year olds.
Awards
‘18’ won both the Grand Prix and the Best Public Sector/Government Content Marketing Strategy at the Drum Content Awards. It also won Best Community Engagement at the Drum Social Purpose Awards and a Silver DMA Award, whilst the graphic novel version won a bronze DMA Award for best use of unaddressed print.