Surrey Police Recruitment

Surrey Police Recruitment

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From playtime to purpose—be many roles, be police.

Project scope

Advertising
Design
Digital
Direct mail
Experiential
Publishing

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What do you want to be when you grow up police campaign graphic with toy officer on yellow background
Surrey Police crest badge featuring crown and lion emblem on a star-shaped background

The brief

Our longstanding client Surrey Police, for whom we had provided several public information campaigns, approached us to create a compelling recruitment campaign that would stand out from the noise in local media and engage equally with Surrey Police’s diverse resourcing audiences. Their previous attempt a year earlier saw only six applicants. This time, they wanted to create something that would stand out to drive up applications into the hundreds.

Surrey Police recruitment poster at bus stop with yellow background and toy officer figure at night
Surrey Police recruitment brochure folder showing police staff roles and toy officer on yellow background
Surrey Police social media page on smartphone showing profile, reviews and message button

The approach

The ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ campaign, conceived to capture the imagination of ‘children of all ages’, also enabled us to leverage the message that a Police Officer can ‘play many roles’ in one day.

The high visibility and accessible campaign utilised 3 different toy figure characters, each coupled with the hard-hitting headline. The CGI toy figure illustrations were a bespoke commission from a specialist artist and specified to be similar but not infringe the IP of the Playmobil range of toys.

Surrey Police welcome brochure page with message and yellow campaign back cover design
Surrey Police recruitment pages showing equality and diversity information and application process details
Toy police officer figure holding radio on yellow checker background UK police themed graphic

The outcome

This highly successful recruitment ad campaign with significant standout, saw an unprecedented 390 applications to key roles at all levels across Surrey Police recruitment. That is a 6500% increase on the previous year. The campaign appeared as both on-and offline advertisements as well as appearing concurrently on recruitment packs and on exhibition graphics at local careers fairs and roadshows for a joined-up image. A range of different personas were able to be used in this concept to appeal to niche and diverse audiences.

Surrey Police Instagram campaign mockup showing recruitment post, toy officer figure and police crest graphics
Surrey Police recruitment billboard with yellow background and toy police officer in urban city setting
Toy police officer figure holding radio on yellow background with checker pattern

The reaction

“We have worked with Design Inc on several public information and police advertising campaigns over the years. Their understanding of our needs and goals for this latest recruitment ad campaign was, by far, the core factor in its success.”

Communications Manager,
Surrey Police

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