How London Fire Brigade newsjacked 50 Shades of Grey

Should you jump into bed with Fifty Shades of Grey? That’s what lots of PRs will have wondered ahead of the world launch of the film - how can we get involved?

London Fire Brigade comms team has a good track record for newsjacking and thought we could successfully resurface our #FiftyShadesofRed campaign.

However, national newspapers didn’t agree. None ran the story despite having it under embargo.

It proved to be our eye catching – and in some cases, eye watering - tweets about handcuffs and rings stuck on private parts that caught people’s imagination, essentially forcing the media to cover the story.

Crucially the aims of the campaign weren’t lost with the risqué posts.

We set out to reduce these embarrassing incidents by encouraging people to use some common sense and keep keys handy as well as advising them not force anything on that doesn’t fit.

It also presented the opportunity to highlight the range of jobs our firefighters attend, from people being stuck in toy cars to teenagers lodged in swings.

The campaign became the most read on the BBC, splashed on the front of The Daily Star, all national newspapers covered it online as well as being covered by CNN, Time magazine, USA Today, and NBC.

Interviews were held on BBC Radio 4 and the World Service, as well as internationally on Canadian, Spanish and German radio.

New media covered the campaign, with Buzzfeed, Mashable and Lad’s Bible sharing the content with more than 10m people. The cut-through was complete when an ITV reporter asked the cast about #FiftyShadesOfRed on the red carpet.

The tweets – devised by my colleague  Richard Wilson and I - on their own received over one million impressions, increasing average engagement rate by 158% and the webpage received more than 32,000 views in just five days – in a week the Brigade’s whole site usually records 40-45,000.

But what did we do different? Well this was the first time we took a ‘digital newsroom’ approach to our social media.

Our statistics tell us Twitter posts with an image receive six times more engagement and twice as much reach as those without. With that in mind we created imagery that added value to our tweets - maximising the potential of the 140 characters.

We also repackaged content - another ‘first’ for the Brigade.

Previously content was posted once and never reused. However, this time we refreshed tweets and used the same content multiple times during the day to capture a varying audience. Often the third – sometimes fourth – tweet on a topic would out do the first.

With news organisations increasingly depending on media rich content to use online, many communications teams have already been operating as a ‘digital newsroom’ – they just haven’t realised it; now is the time to realise and take advantage.

- Rob McTaggart, London Fire Brigade

This article first appeared on Comms2Point0- a valuable resource for communicators and digital people in the UK

South Wales Christmas campaign drives down RTCs

In December 2014, South Wales Fire and Rescue Service (SWFRS) launched ‘Glad She Crashed at Yours’, a drink drive campaign with the aim of reducing the number of RTCs and related injuries or fatalities during the Christmas period. This was following a 57% increase in RTCs during December 2013 in comparison to 2012.

In the last three festive periods (2011 to 2013) there have been more than 135 RTC injuries, as well as three fatalities. The ‘Glad She Crashed’ campaign was developed in conjunction with SWFRS Road Safety team, ensuring that their safety messages were shared effectively through video, as well as on the Service’s social media platforms.

The campaign ran throughout December and saw more than 16,000 views of the YouTube video and was shared more than 1,000 times across Twitter and Facebook; this included a Facebook reach of 97,650 and 189,945 impressions on Twitter. The campaign also included a two week radio advert run across Capital FM and Heart South Wales, which had three million impacts.

Following the completion of the campaign and its subsequent evaluation, it was found that the number of RTCs attended by SWFRS during the period 15 December 2014 to 11 January 2015, saw a 13.6% decrease in comparison to the same period in 2013.

Radio DJs get visit from Smokey the smoke alarm!

When two radio DJs were heard complaining about their smoke alarms live on air – the Greater Manchester FRS Corporate Comms team jumped at the chance to do some quirky publicity around the importance of smoke detectors.

Key 103’s breakfast show duo Mike Toolan and Chelsea Norris were discussing how he’d hit his smoke alarm with a hammer to stop it beeping while she had covered hers up with a tea-towel.

On hearing their discussion, Station Manager Pete Lamb decided to tell Corporate Comms about it – suspecting they’d have an idea up their sleeve about how to turn the presenting duo’s conversation into a positive publicity stunt. And they did!

Using a smoke alarm costume (aptly named Smokey), the team’s Multimedia and Photography Officer Alex Flahive and Home Safety Co-ordinator Phil Greenwood turned up at the Key 103 studio in Castlefield, Manchester.

They waited outside the studio doors then ambushed Mike when he popped outside on his break.

Phil said: “We had a conversation around fire safety, the importance of working smoke alarms and Home Safety Checks which they recorded to play later in the show.

“During our conversation Chelsea said jokingly that Mike had upset her friends in the fire service and that I was invited in to ‘tell him off’ because Fire Angel alarms are good alarms and they save lives.

“I told them that we’d had a serious fire the night before where a man nearly died from smoke inhalation after taking his alarms down. Mike’s face dropped when he heard that.”

Mike than posed for photographs with Smokey and Phil and both presenters were also tweeting about the stunt to help GMFRS spread the message of smoke alarms to their thousands of followers.

 

Bonfire night campaign success

Bonfire Night is one of the busiest nights of the year for most fire and rescue services. At Tyne and Wear FRS (TWFRS) we run a campaign each year to help prevent bonfire and firework injuries, especially in young people.

Using insights from a recent project we based our 2014 campaign on ‘Jack’s Story’; about a 10-year-old boy who started a fire as a prank and almost killed someone. Based on true events it showed how Jack’s thoughtless actions affected his mum and sister as well as his own life, long after he lit the fire.

Jack’s story was told in through a film and shown in schools as part of our education programme. It was also delivered to young people outside of mainstream education at our interactive safety centre and used across social media. 

The campaign launch took place at local schools as part of a media and social media plan. Further coverage was obtained by working with partners and local media spent Bonfire Night in Control Room as well as on an appliance.

During the campaign a 14-year-old boy suffered a severe hand injury as a result of playing with an illegal firework. The family joined our campaign resulting in national media coverage. We are following him throughout the year to find out how it has affected his life and will be used in this year’s campaign.

On 5 November 2014 calls to TWFRS reduced by nearly a fifth and incidents we attended by more than a quarter- the lowest level for 11 years. Hospitals reported eight injuries.

In terms of media coverage more than 500,000 people heard about our campaign, more than 700,000 could have seen it and more than a million people could have read about it. After seeing Jack’s Story, 85% of 10-14 year olds said they or their friends are less likely to set fires.

For more information and Jack’s click here or contact me on 0191 444 1542.

- Michelle Atkinson, Tyne & Wear FRS

National behavioural insights work kicks off

Did you see the story about pregnant women being paid to stop smoking? Who would have known that was a study informed by behavioural insights (BI)? It's the trend increasingly informing Government policies like making a pension opt-out, not opt-in.

These were among the revelations discovered by a group of FirePRO members who attended a workshop delivered by Felicity Algate from the now spun-off Behavioural Insights Team, organised and funded by Mary-Ann Auckland from DCLG.

We heard the details behind the MINDSPACE acronym, which is the basis for BI work, which we can use to make our community safety comms and activity more effective. N is for norm - telling people that most others check their smoke alarm regularly might increase the likelihood of others do so, because they will come to regard it as "normal" behaviour.

E is for ego, which can drive more consistent behaviour. In this respect, studies showed people given a coffee loyalty card with the first two squares already stamped were much more likely to complete the card, as they perceive themselves to be nearer the target. Could our crews test the smoke alarms upon fitting and give the resident a "smoke alarm check" card with the first square signed off?

The workshop followed a behavioural insights pilot study in South Yorkshire using direct marketing to prompt smoke alarm testing. FirePRO is now looking to develop that into a wider study involving several FRSs. If you are interesting in being involved, contact Steve Chu (schu@syfire.gov.uk) or Alex Mills (amills@syfire.gov.uk).

Hampshire design team give fresh feel to elderly campaign

A campaign aimed at reducing fires in the home of elderly people has been given a fresh feel by the design team at Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service.

The team produced a range of brochures and leaflets, as well as more practical items such as tea towels, for the campaign, targeted at the over-65s. The layout and theme was designed to complement the clear, concise messaging of the campaign.

Katie Loates, communications lead for the Safer Home project, said: "It was vital that we were able to communicate the messages as clearly as possible to our target age group.

"The clear designs and simple layout, which could be adapted and used across the different literature, were pivotal in helping us achieve the aims of the campaign."

The campaign was launched at the top of Portsmouth's Spinnaker Tower and events held throughout the campaign included firefighters taking part in bingo calling and a visit from ITV's Fred Dinenage.

 

Hampshire has already received enquiries about the campaign literature from other services and it has also been discussed with representatives from the Department for Communities and Local Government.

The campaign helped to promote free home safety visits available to vulnerable adults over 65 and helped raise awareness of basic life-saving fire safety measures.

To enquire about the campaign or the literature, contact Katie Loates at Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service.