The Home Office_Police Recruitment Case Study

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BEST INSIGHT AND INNOVATION

&

SILVER AWARD

The Home Office (Police Recruitment)

How Thinking Negatively Ended the Negative Thinking

COUNTER-INTUITION

This paper charts the transformational effects of two words – I couldn't.

Previous IPA Effectiveness papers demonstrate that advertising can effectively stimulate

recruitment. (1) Beyond showing that police recruitment advertising works, this paper specifically

examines how it works.

While most advertising encourages and persuades, this campaign set out to actively discourage

and dissuade. This negative approach works counter-intuitively, producing positive effects thatare especially powerful and widespread.

In particular, the campaign drives both specific action and widespread attitudinal change – a featusually regarded as too ambitious for a single piece of advertising.

NEGATIVE THINKING

Deciding to join the Police means a life-changing commitment to unsociable hours, danger,

personal insult, rules, responsibility and paperwork. Difficult at the best of times.

Compounding this, perceptions of the Police in 2000 were poor.

'There is no doubt that there were fundamental errors … a combination of professionalincompetence, institutional racism and a failure of leadership by senior officers.'

Sir William Macpherson's Report, Steven Lawrence Inquiry, 1999

'You come out of the pub drunk at the weekend and the policeman is the one that stops you

and has a go and you think 'what a tosser'.'

Male, 23-30, Consumer InSight

'The Bobby on the Beat must be one of the least desirable jobs in England – alongsidemanaging the England cricket team and running the Millennium Dome.'

Chairman, Constables Central Committee

Advertising Effectiveness Awards 2002

Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, 44 Belgrave Square, London SW1X 8QS, UK Tel: +44 (0)171 235 7020 Fax: +44 (0)171 245 9904

Agency: M & C Saatchi Author: Richard Storey



Indeed, the Police's reputation had fallen steadily to a level where the public claimed they hadmore confidence in Coca-cola, Asda and Chris Tarrant (Figure 1).

As a consequence of this malaise, applications to the Police were falling steadily and the strength

of the service had dropped to a ten-year low.

The Home Office therefore instigated a national recruitment campaign to complement the

Government's newly announced Crime Fighting Fund. This was the first ever national advertisingfor the Police. In addition, local forces continued to conduct their own recruitment campaigns,

most of which included some form of advertising, predominantly press.

M&C Saatchi was appointed with an objective of helping recruit 9000 Police officers over 3

years. The Crime Fighting Fund (CFF) provided £454 million 'to recruit and train 9000 extraofficers over and above the number that forces had planned to recruit in the next three years to

March 2003'. Advertising was expected to be 'a significant factor' in achieving this target. NB: All

police are 'officers' irrespective of rank. The task was to recruit regular police constables – 'beat

officers'.

TURNAROUND

Advertising ran nationally from August 2000 using the theme 'I couldn't. Could You?'

This resulted in a rapid uplift in police recruits, delivering a pronounced turnaround in the number

of serving officers (Figure 2 and Figure 3).

The Home Secretary underlined the significance of this transformation:

'We have now decisively reversed the decline in Police numbers. The increase of 4578officers in under two years shows the success of our investment.' (2)

Source: No.10 Press Release, 13 March 2002

A DIRECT LINK

For once it is easy to establish advertising's direct contribution to this turnaround. This is becausethe advertising response channels are unique. (3) Enquirers ringing or clicking on these channels

must have been prompted directly by this advertising. Their details are captured and tracked

separately from applicants via ongoing local channels. Each of the local police forces uses a

separate number and URL for applications in its own advertising and marketing.

We can therefore report that the campaign has generated 101,795 relevant enquiries. This is the

total number of telephone enquiries up to 12th May. As will be shown below, many more

enquiries were made via the web, but inconsistencies in the way the data are measured make itunreliable to provide a total unique visitor figure across the whole period. This yielded 66,346

application requests (4) and 5998 Officers recruited via the Fund (CFF recruits to March 2002)

These recruits represent an incremental 52% over and above ongoing numbers (Figure 4).

Having established the campaign's success, it is illuminating to look at exactly how this was

achieved.

HOW THIS HAPPENED



The campaign's counter-intuitive strategy was based on five key observations.

1. The task isn't 'more people to consider', but 'people to consider more'.

There's a massive disparity between the number of people prepared to consider a police career

(25%) and the number who actually apply (0.07%). This disparity illustrates the extent to which people 'toy' with the idea of joining the Police.

'Considerers' tend to have thought about a career with the Police only vaguely and without seriouscommitment. Typically, it's something they've mooted for a while, but done nothing about.

Advertising needed to force them to consider the Police more actively and in more detail,

ultimately making a decision one way or the other.

2. One in 4000

We needed to recruit less than one person in 4000. (5)

This presented two profound dilemmas:

The advertising needed to target and motivate a highly specific minority.

Even then, however, it would effectively be 'wasted' on the remaining 99.9% seeing it,

unless it served another purpose.

3. Quality is sacrosanct.

The Home Office made it clear from the start that the requirement to boost numbers should in noway compromise quality of recruits. Recruitment standards would not be lowered to artificially

'make the numbers'.

At the time, a typical, cynical view of the skills required was:

'It doesn't take much to cruise around in a panda car, dishing out the odd speeding ticket.'

Male, 25-35

In marked contrast, our research with serving officers revealed the exceptional range of skillsrequired: innate qualities such as mental toughness, objectivity, compassion, bravery,

thoroughness, interpersonal skills and a drive to help others ahead of personal considerations.

It was essential that advertising solicited a response from people of this mindset, rather than

anyone motivated by superficial attractions – power, glamour, excitement, job security and so on.

4. Encouragement is too indiscriminating.

The 'standard' recruitment strategy is to feature positive aspects of the job to encourage applicants,

for example, spontaneous communication of Army recruitment advertising is 30% qualities

needed to be a good soldier, 23% job prospects, 20% positive role of the army, 19% excitinglifestyle (source: IPA Effectiveness paper).

'Have you ever wanted a career where no two days are the same?'

'A life with variety. A career for life.'



Local Force advertising

Research confirmed that these kinds of messages have broad appeal. Too broad in fact. They

appeal disproportionately to less suitable candidates likely to withdraw or be rejected during the

application process.

'That's what they should do. It's got helicopters, detective work, variety. That makes it moreappealing to me.'

Male 21, applicant, later rejected

Advertising that 'over-sold' the job's attractions risked diluting quality.

5. Low respect hinders willingness to apply.

While the decision to apply is deeply personal, potential applicants are swayed by family and peers' opinions. It is human nature to be influenced by the perceived status of your chosen career.

Low esteem for the Police was clearly affecting disposition to apply.

'Becoming a Police Officer was seen as something that would make you deeply unpopular.'

Source: BMRB, 2000

'Your mates'd think you've gone soft in the head.'

Male, 20-30, 2000

Indeed, perceived lack of respect for the Police ranks third among the major factors deterring

applicants, above pay (Figure 5).

While advertising cannot alleviate the other concerns, it could have a role in combating lowrespect.

A DIFFERENT APPROACH

Combining these observations, it was clear that advertising needed a dramatically different

strategy.

It needed to issue a powerful challenge.

It needed to actively discourage the vast majority of viewers, while inspiring a tiny minority

of the most committed. Also, by driving widespread respect for the Police, advertising could encourage this

minority to apply. This is creatively expressed as;

Make 999 out of every 1000 people realise they couldn't be a police officer, but respect like

hell the one who could.

ADMITTING FAILURE

The resulting advertising was inspired by interviewing serving police officers. Each challenged uswith profoundly difficult situations they had faced in the line of duty.

Reflecting on the qualities needed to handle scenarios such as these, the planner reported back:



'I, for one, couldn't do that.'

The advertising idea came directly from this comment. It features well-known, respected figuresadmitting they haven't got the qualities needed to be a police officer.

Each spokesperson contemplates a challenging police scenario, concluding that they themselvescouldn't do it, raising the question 'Could You?'

The featured scenarios are chosen to poignantly counterpoint each spokesperson's obvious

strengths. For example, Lennox Lewis struggles to restrain himself from punching a wife-beaterand Bob Geldof is unable to separate a child from its abusive parents.

THE POWER OF ' I COULDN'T'

Research shows that the admission of defeat acts as a profound catalyst.

The challenge forces consideration which solicits two types of response. Most are put off, butnevertheless are filled with respect for the Police. Meanwhile, it triggers strong interest among aminority with a particular mindset, whose desire to apply is supported by the perceived respect.

We will show how 'I couldn't' drives these effects.

By improving respect it helps boost morale, curtail resignations, reduce fear of crime and

influence press reporting.

Meanwhile the challenge encourages an exceptional rate, quality and speed of applications.

CREATING IMPACT

Most advertising seeks to attract attention by being enjoyable, colourful, pacy, noisy and easy to

consume. And rightly so. Studies show enjoyability, liveliness and ease of viewing correlate

strongly with impact.

'Enjoyability is a key component of the Awareness Index (AI), correlates with both message

communication and persuasion and is a strong determinant of an ad's overall effectiveness.'

'The Link Test database shows that advertising rated highly on the active/passive scale

tends to have higher branded impact.'Source: Millward Brown International

However, that is not to say that all advertising must be all these things to be effective. Far from it.

This campaign's negative approach is purposefully uncomfortable, monochrome, slow-paced,

quiet and taxing. Research shows this makes it stand out from the media clutter and from otherrecruitment activity.

'The advertising is seen as highly distinctive within the break – still, slow paced, long

periods of silence, sense of things left unsaid, stark, clinical, no music or special effects. In

strong contrast with other fast, loud and quick-cutting ads.''There's not even a hint of glamour there. It's not like the "fast cars" approach.'

Source: The Nursery

Furthermore, the thought-provoking approach stimulates engagement, making it particularly



memorable (Figure 6).

'It forces you to concentrate on what the celebrity is saying and what it'd be like to be in that

situation yourself.'

Source: The Nursery

As a result, the advertising has lodged in the minds of an unprecedented 98% of the target. (6)

More importantly, its message has been steadily drilled into their consciousness (Figure 7).

FORCING CONSIDERATION

The campaign doesn't simply generate passive message registration. The personal nature of others'

fallibility forces people to consider themselves in relation to the scenarios and assess their own

suitability.

'It's a very interesting approach that immediately made me ask myself what she is asking. …

Oh my God, could I do it?'Source: The Nursery

Unusually, people spontaneously credit advertising as the catalyst for their consideration of the

Police.

'It made my decision for me. I suppose I'd had it at the back of my mind since I was about12. I know people who've joined and I guess I'd always thought I might. I thought about that

old woman with the black eye and realised I didn't fancy that sort of thing. I guess I was

really more interested in the glamorous side.'Male, 26, non-applicant

'I thought seriously about it after seeing the advert. I hadn't really given it time to think before then.'

Asian female, 23, applicant

We can show that advertising influences active consideration by looking at people's curiosity

about the job (Table 1). Whether or not they ultimately apply, those aware of the advertising aremore likely to want further information.

TABLE 1: DESIRE TO FIND OUT MORE

Web interactions also illustrate advertising driving consideration. Logs indicate that visitors

directed to www.policecouldyou.co.uk by the advertising spend longer on the site, exploring it inmore detail. Specifically, among the site's most visited areas are the simulation exercises, giving

visitors an insight into the realities of the job, and the application pages (Table 2).

Among those

spontaneously aware of

advertising %

Among those not

spontaneously aware of

advertising %

Applicants 76 57 Non-applicants

61 33

Source: COI, Webtrends, eMC Saatchi



TABLE 2: APPLICATION PAGES

Average of eight comparable Home Office sites on subjects such as crime reduction, prisons, car

crime, security on the web, drugs and so on. As they are all information sites for particular

'interested' audiences these 'norms' are several times higher than the all-site average.

Significantly, research concludes that it is the admission of defeat that incites consideration.Scripts tested without 'I couldn't' lack this impetus.

'Defeat is central. Seeing others admitting defeat acts as a spur to interrogate one's own

abilities. Other routes communicate the same message but lack the motivational power.'

Source: The Nursery

REJECTION DRIVES RESPECT

In line with the strategy, advertising creates a strong impression of the job's demands. In tracking,

'difficult' measures come through far stronger than 'positive' ones (Figure 8).

As a result, most people reject the Police, frequently blaming advertising as the cause.

'That's exactly why I didn't join.'

'They're asking for people who are superhuman.' Non-responders

However, the act of considering and rejecting is not without value. Having ruled out the job

personally, people appreciate the extent of what the Police do and view them with increased

respect (Figure 9).

'You realise they're there to do something good, as opposed to just barging in and doing an

arrest – more from a counselling side I suppose.''For somebody I respect as a brave person to say she couldn't do that job, the people who do

must be braver than her.''It shows a more caring side, that they do other things and have a lot of emotional strength.

Other things than just chasing after people and arresting villains.'

Rejecters, Consumer InSight

This is fuelling dramatic rises in respect and crucially perceived respect for the Police, previouslyin a 20-year decline. The perception of society's respect for the Police is a more relevant measure

of the concern faced by potential applicants. Levels of perceived respect are markedly lower, but

growing faster. The influence of advertising is particularly striking (Figure 10). The most recent

data coincide with a negative PR period related to police reform. There was three times morenegative than positive media coverage over this period (source: Echo). Nevertheless, the decline

in respect among those aware of advertising is less marked.

policecouldyou.co.uk Comparison sites

Average pages viewed pervisitor per visit

13.9 10.1

Average length of timespent on site (mins)

12.3 9.5

Source: COI, Webtrends, eMC Saatchi



This increased respect has in turn produced a number of useful knock-on effects.

MORALE

It is no secret that the service suffers motivation issues. A 1999 report indicated low morale in

84% of Officers. (7)

Against this backdrop, serving officers praise the campaign for the public recognition it lends

them.

There is strong anecdotal evidence of a positive campaign effect on pride in the job, perceivedsupport and improved public regard, all powerful components of morale.

'There was universal support from Officers for the campaign. In particular, its ability to turn

them into unsung heroes.'

Source: Consumer InSight

'The perceived message to the public is 'it's a difficult and necessary job that many people

couldn't hack – it deserves your respect'. For serving Officers, this flatters the job and the person.'

Source: Cragg Ross Dawson

'When my wife sees that she understands exactly what I do. She realises why I come homelate and stressed and sometimes don't even get home at all.'

Serving Officer

By boosting admiration for the Police, the campaign has substantially improved perceptions of the

appeal of the job (Figure 11).

An indication of the value of this can be seen in 'wastage' from the service. The number of leavers

has been gradually declining. However, as most are retirees, this is largely age related. Beneath

this, resignations – a better indication of morale – were trending upwards.

Together with improved pay and conditions, the impact of advertising on morale has halted thistrend (Figure 12). This does not only reflect the drop in the total number of leavers since the trend

in resignations has levelled off as a proportion of all leavers as well as in absolute numbers. Pay

levels did improve in 2001 at a level slightly above inflation and increases in previous years.

FEAR OF CRIME

The maxim 'perception is reality' is particularly apposite when it comes to crime figures.

While studies show UK crime steadily declining, public fear of crime is both substantially higher

and has been increasing over the past two years. The British crime Survey measures the public's

claimed incidence of crime, which differs from police-reported crime figures. Nevertheless, both

show the same downward trend over the past five years.

A number of factors fuel this disparity including media reporting, amount of violent crime,

fallibility of memory, and so on. By contrast, confidence in the Police and visibility of officers onthe beat offers reassurance. (8)



is the most efficient published recruitment campaign (Table 3).

TABLE 3: RECRUITMENT CAMPAIGNS

THE RIGHT KIND OF ENQUIRERS

The campaign is efficient not only in the number of enquiries generated, but also in the nature of

enquirers.

The minority motivated by the challenge tend to have the right innate qualities.

'Those expressing interest were a close emotional fit with the Police.'

Source: The Nursery

Thirty-seven per cent of enquirers phoning in response to the advertising request an application

form, indicating the extent to which they have already self-selected. Prior to this campaign, the

established enquiry to application ratio was 25%.

In addition, the desire to 'try before you buy' in private means that the web site has played a vitalrole in engaging suitable applicants. People respond to the advertising by visiting the site for

further consideration. The web received 93,315 such visitors in an advertised month, compared

with 10,010 telephone enquiries.

We estimate that 19% of all site visitors complete a request for an application form online,indicating the further filtering that the site content produces. This is an underestimate since some

visitors will have been double-counted. Overestimating the total visitor figure means the real

proportion of enquirers is likely to be larger. We have also had to assume that telephone enquirers

request an application exclusively by telephone and online users exclusively online. This iscertainly an oversimplification.

Advertising agencies should note the web's power as a direct response channel. In line with

common practice, the phone number is far more prominent than the URL in the advertising.

However, customers need to consider, research and investigate before they commit means the webattracts nine times the response and accounts for 61% of applications. (This compares favourably

with 30% for Army recruitment). (10)

As well as being an efficient source of applications, the advertising is effective at driving final

recruits. In total, the recruits to applications ratio is 1:5. The equivalent ratio prior to the campaignwas 1:7. This further supports anecdotal feedback from Recruiting Officers on the high calibre of

applicants.

Cost per

application (£)

Cost per recruit

(£)

Police recruitment 151 583Army recruitment 208 652Metropolitan Police(1988)

156 819

Nursing recruitment 234 846RAF recruitment 309 965RAF officerrecruitment

494 n/a

Navy recruitment 634 n/a



effect of the campaign.

'I saw it and went for it. I'd been dithering for so long'

Female applicant

Indeed, with applications currently being processed, the campaign will have achieved its objective

of helping recruit 9000 officers ahead of schedule. Such was the speed of response that the HomeSecretary issued a new target for the campaign and subsequently brought it forward by a year. In

July 2001 the new target was announced as 130,000 officers by March 2004. In a White Paper in

December 2001 the 130,000 target was brought forward to spring 2003. Projections show that thecampaign is on track to achieve this more testing target.

BOOSTING INDIRECT RESPONSE

Not all the uplift in recruits is explained by direct response to national advertising. Local force

initiatives, from open days and career fairs through to local advertising, continue to successfully

attract applicants.

While local forces are predisposed to champion the success of their own initiatives, 71% of them

acknowledge that the national campaign has affected their recruitment, 70% commenting

spontaneously on increased applications. (11)

Indeed, by discounting recruits attributable to the CFF, we can see that local activity has indeed

been progressively more effective since the introduction of the national campaign (Figure 22).

Indeed, the forces' own activity, running in conjunction with ' Could You?' , is 72% more effective

(on the assumption that baseline recruitment numbers would otherwise have continued their

decline).

Local activity is largely unchanged in nature across the period and only increased in volume by21%, suggesting that the contribution of the national campaign to this boost in effectiveness is

substantial. This is consistent with someone being intrigued by 'Could You?' advertising then

spotting and responding to a local force ad announcing vacancies.

Interestingly, the British Transport Police, whose recruitment processes are unrelated, hasreported a similar effect.

SINCERE FLATTERY

While not strictly an effectiveness measure, elements of this strategy have been adopted by other

recruitment campaigns, notably:

'99.99% need not apply'Royal Marines recruitment endline

MULTIPLE EFFECTS

The effects of the advertising can therefore be summarised as in Figure 23.

GOOD VALUE

While profit is meaningless in the context of public service, we can assess the value for money the



CONCLUSION

Hopefully we have established that the counter-intuitive, negative approach produced this

campaign's positive effects.

As a response-generating exercise alone, its efficiency represents 'best value' for the taxpayer.

The broader added value comes as a bonus. It alone is a significant multiple of the investment.

The wider lesson of this case is the benefit of establishing exactly how advertising is likely to

work. The more rigorously defined and inventively articulated this is, the more powerful theadvertising is likely to be.

NOTES

1. Sources: RAF Officer Recruitment 1980, Nursing Recruitment 1986, Metropolitan Police Recruitment 1988,London Bus Driver Recruitment 1990, RAF Recruitment 1996, Army Recruitment 1996.

2. The increase in officers is lower than the number of recruits because of serving officers retiring or leaving theforce.

3. 0845 6083000 and www.policecouldyou.co.uk are the unique enquiry lines. The 'Could you?' advertising is theonly realistic means whereby anyone could obtain these.

4. Enquirers returned an 'Expressions of Interest' to receive their application form. This figure combines bothtelephone and internet enquiries.

5. Sources: National Statistics, Home Office. The task represented recruiting one out of every 4546 eligible adults.

6. Prompted TV recognition among the target of 18 to 34-year-olds. Source: Taylor Nelson Sofres tracking. We knowof no higher score achieved by any campaign.

7. Source: HM Inspectorate of Constabulary. Local force inspection. This was an isolated study, not repeated since.

8. Source: 'Open All Hours – an inspection report on the role of police visibility and accessibility in publicreassurance', Home Office.

9. Andrew Neil has been Editor of The Economist and The Sunday Times. At the time of this campaign he wasEditor-in-Chief of the Scotsman, the European and Sunday Business.

10. Source: COI/IPA Effectiveness Databank

11. Source: PCRU research into local force selection and recruitment procedures.

http://www.warc.com

© IPA, Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, London 2002



NOTES & EXHIBITS

FIGURE 1: DECLINING CONFIDENCE IN THE POLICE

Source: Henley Centre

FIGURE 2: UPLIFT IN POLICE RECRUITS SIX MONTHLY TOTALS

Source: Home Office Police Service Strength

FIGURE 3: TURNAROUND IN POLICE NUMBERS



Source: Home Office

FIGURE 4: SOURCE OF POLICE RECRUITS SIX MONTHLY TOTALS


FIGURE 5: CONCERNS ABOUT JOINING THE POLICE



Source: Consensus 2001

FIGURE 6: DESCRIPTION OF ADVERTISING

Source: Taylor Nelson SofresBase: All aware of advertising

FIGURE 7: SPONTANEOUS REPLAY OF MESSAGE: SPONTANEOUSRECALL OF 'POLICE DO A DIFFICULT JOB', FAMOUS PEOPLE SAYING

THEY COULDN'T DO IT



Source: Taylor Nelson Sofres

FIGURE 8: ADVERTISING SHAPES JOB PERCEPTIONS


Base: All aware of advertising

FIGURE 9: PERSONAL RESPECT FOR POLICE


Base: 18 to 34s, split by aware/not aware of Police advertising



FIGURE 10: PERCEIVED RESPECT FOR THE POLICE

Source: Taylor Nelson SofresBase: 18 to 34s, split by aware/not aware of Police advertising

FIGURE 11: APPEAL OF THE JOB


FIGURE 12: TREND IN RESIGNATIONS HALTED SIX MONTHLY TOTALS




FIGURE 13: INCREASED CONFIDENCE IN CRIME REDUCTION


Base: All adults

FIGURE 14: REDUCTION IN PERCEIVED CRIME



Source: British Crime Survey

FIGURE 15: SHIFT IN MEDIA REPORTING: NATURE OF NATIONALNEWSPAPER STORIES 2001 VERSUS 1999, ANALYSIS CONDUCTED

DECEMBER

Source: Profound, Reuters, Echo

FIGURE 16: TELEPHONE RESPONSE TO ADVERTISING: ALLRECRUITMENT ENQUIRIES ON 0845 6083000



Source: Broadsystems

FIGURE 17: WEB RESPONSE TO ADVERTISING: IMPRESSIONS ONWWW.POLICECOULDYOU.CO.UK HOMEPAGE

Source: Home Office

FIGURE 18: INCREASED ETHNIC MINORITY APPLICATIONS




FIGURE 19: INCREASED FEMALE APPLICATIONS


FIGURE 20: GROWTH IN ETHNIC MINORITY OFFICERS TWELVEMONTHLY TOTALS


FIGURE 21: GROWTH IN FEMALE OFFICERS TWELVE MONTHLYTOTALS




FIGURE 22: UPLIFT IN INDIRECT RECRUITS SIX MONTHLY TOTALS


FIGURE 23: EFFECTS OF ADVERTISING

The Home Office_Police Recruitment Case Study

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