Devon and Cornwall Police

Using Humour to take on Digital Fraud & Scams

Research
Advertising
Public Safety

Devon and Cornwall Police approached with an interesting problem: youngsters are now more heavily targeted by scammers than anyone else. We created an awareness campaign about digital fraud and scams, a heavy subject, using some wholsome humour to land the message.

The campaign received national news coverage from ITV and BBC news.

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Real insights from young people manifest as humour led campaign.

Multi-channel campaign launched in bus stops around Devon and Cornwall as well as meta ads.

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Challenge

Devon and Cornwall Police identified that younger people are more targeted by fraudsters and scammers than any other generation, who are confident they can avoid these harms.

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    Outcomes

    Our students were ideally positioned to explore the attitudes of the audience of young people aged 16–24 and they quickly developed insights for the client into how they have experienced digital fraud and scams.

    For the campaign, we needed to get across an important message to break down this false sense of confidence; scammers will target anyone. The ‘Scam Animals’ campaign featured a humorous series of posters, and social video ads created awareness about this topic. Our students gave Devon and Cornwall Police a plethora of ideas conceived by, and for, young people. The project also provided valuable real-world experience for the student teams. The final creative ran across bus stops and meta ads, helping police connect directly with the audience they needed to reach. This project allowed Devon and Cornwall Police to better understand how to communicate with Gen Z, while also creating a meaningful campaign to tackle digital fraud and scams.

    The campaign launched up at The Big Sheep in Devon, where our media production course documented the day alongside the BBC and ITV News.

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    Faculty Team

    Joel Ferguson, Lucy Cokes

    Student Involved

    Amelia Belam, Louis Brown, Charli Li

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