Fatal knife crime incidents are at their highest level since records began. The people involved are often raised by their mums, the one person they respect above all others. We wanted to find an innovative way for mums to speak directly to their sons, asking, in their own words, that they don’t carry a knife for them on Mother’s Day and every day afterwards. The ‘don’t carry a knife’ message is familiar to this audience, so we needed to do something different to be heard. Instead we wanted to communicate a sense of ‘if you don’t do it for yourself, do it for your mum’.

The relationship between a mother and her son is a unique and powerful one. This insight had potential to create real change. These boys’ mothers are sometimes the one person they feel they can rely on, the one person they listen to. Our idea was to create Shout Outs from real mums who fear their sons may be in danger of getting themselves into trouble, pleading with them to never carry a knife. We reached out to underground radio stations and got them to play the spots not as ads, but as Shout Outs from the last voice the listeners would expect to hear.

Our audience was one notoriously hard section of society to connect with via traditional advertising. We needed a way to talk to them where they couldn’t walk away or switch off. We therefore decided to target them where they already are, on underground radio stations. Finding the right radio stations was paramount. Playing them on the wrong channel would have been a waste, targeting the wrong people. The media placement relied on the spots living in an environment already familiar to the target audience, and hearing a maternal tone they recognise but in a space they wouldn’t expect. The Shout Outs needed to be authentic so they are unbranded and from real mums speaking their own words. The result is a set of powerful, heartfelt pleas that are aimed at one son but will be heard by and impact all sons.

The media implementation and execution included Rinse FM and Pulse 88, two of the major youth targeted radio stations, utilising across the weekend of Mother’s Day. There was a £5000 budget for production. There was no spend behind the media - it was all donated by the radio stations to the charity. The Ben Kinsella Trust are planning to continue to use mother’s voices as a way of speaking to young people about knife crime.

- Played on Pulse 88 and Rinse FM over the course of the whole Mother’s Day weekend, including 64 plays on Pulse 88 over the course of the weekend

- Live interview with one of the creatives on Pulse 88

- Coverage on BBC 3 radio, in a discussion with someone who has lost a loved one to knife crime

- Picked up by Evening Standard, Campaign, and LBB

- Campaign ad of the day

The client, who is a member of the Home Office's Serious Violence Crime Taskforce, has referenced the campaign in meetings at number 10, the Home Office and with the Mayor of London as part of their ongoing efforts to reduce knife crime.