Objective

Knife crime is a serious issue facing UK youth.

In collaboration with Idris’ creative agency Silly Face and his foundation ‘Don’t Stop Your Future’ we were tasked with landing the issue on the cultural agenda, and applying pressure on decision makers to drive permanent change and halt the spiralling violence on the UK’s streets.

Strategy

To create a series of newsworthy moments as the catalyst for conversation across news, culture and communities, supporting the release of a track by Idris Elba and rapper DB Maz, called ‘Knives Down’.

Campaign

Hyperactive collaborated  with families and communities who have tragically lost loved ones to knife crime, integrating them into the campaign across three main touch points;

A music video which featured home footage of victims was released as an exclusive with GRM Daily as the track went live on all major streaming platforms. 

A hard hitting stunt in Parliament Square featured 247 stacks of clothing, each representing the last outfits worn by those who have been stabbed and murdered in the last 12 months.

A national billboard campaign that humanised the issue, focusing on the victims and their personalities, rather than referencing statistics. Copy was written by family members and over 700 media sites were donated by a network of media partners.