Thames Valley Police has launched a new campaign to educate and empower victims to report non-contact sexual offences.
The force has worked with Cheshire agency TMC and campaigner, Lisa Squire, whose daughter, Libby was murdered by a sexual predator in 2019 whilst at University.
‘It Does Matter!’ was released to coincide with Freshers’ Week and targets 18 to 24-year-olds, encouraging them to take acts, such as exposure and voyeurism, seriously and ensure that they are reported to the police so that action can be taken.
TMC’s role was to examine target audience attitudes, facilitate focus groups as well as forming and engaging a project advisory team of academics (including former Secretary of State for Education and Skills, Baroness Morris), psychologists and representatives from Thames Valley Police.
“This campaign really did matter for the team here at TMC. The message, sadly, was very relatable,” said Racheal Fudge, Project Director, Social Impact for TMC.
“We came together as a team to develop the creative approach. It was really alarming to learn how many of our female team, and some of the men, had experienced the types of sexual offences the campaign addresses.
“We developed a series of powerful talking heads films voiced by members of our own team who shared their very personal experience or relayed that of a colleague.”
As well as developing the campaign’s visual identity and messaging, TMC created a dedicated website, as well as social media visuals and messaging.
“The collaboration between ourselves and TMC has been such a valuable partnership, bringing together strategic insight, experience, and audience research to develop this behaviour-change campaign,” added Mel Reedman, Community Engagement and Campaigns Manager, Thames Valley Police.
“Taking a sensitive and personal subject matter, the TMC team worked with us to gather an in-depth understanding of the issue and demonstrated exceptional creativity in bringing it to life. Their contributions have been crucial, and without them, we wouldn’t have the powerful campaign identity we are now proud to showcase.”
