Virals were distributed to mobile phones via Bluetooth and seeded on Bebo. Postcards were handed out in packs of flyers and Radio ads played on urban radio stations. They all pushed the audience to itdoesnthavetohappen.co.uk, a Bebo page that acted as a meeting place for our target to join together against knife crime.

They used it to talk about the problem, offer solutions and generally be part of the anti-knife crime community.We used it to foster the anti-knife crime movement and to continue the ongoing creative collaboration between RKCR and the target market. We even sourced a number of 48$ posters from the contributions uploaded to the page.The campaign was launched at a press conference by the kids who wrote the work (along with a government minister). It became front page news immediately and made it into the top stories on Sky and BBC news bulletins.

Figures on youth knife carrying are not available but anecdotally the response to the campaign has been excellent. Our innovative approach has been praised by many youth groups, mothers’ organisations, ministers and even the Prime Minister. Most importantly, it has not been met with the kind of cynicism, readily associated with this often disenfranchised audience, and has instead been accepted for what it is – a plea to consider the consequences of carrying knives.The battle against knife crime is not something that will be won in a single campaign. But we consider the It Doesn’t Have To Happen campaign to be a step in the right direction.