Wavemaker are finalists for Public Sector Content Campaign of the Year

Wavemaker at a glance

At Wavemaker, we believe there is a better way to grow.

By leveraging our deep understanding of audiences, the world’s largest database of purchase journeys, and Provocative Planning process, we deliver exceptional growth for the world’s leading brands and businesses. 

But exceptional growth requires uncomfortable change. 

We know the growth models of today will not serve the future—that what got our clients there today, won’t work tomorrow. That’s why our attitude of positive provocation underpins everything we do. 

Positive provocation brings together specialist knowledge, deep insight, strategic thinking and a fearless mindset to challenge what’s gone before and imagine a better way to grow. It means thinking deeply, caring enough to want to do better and refusing to take the easy route.

Our award-winning work

Wavemaker UK & Counter Terrorism Policing – Virtual Kitchen Table Conversations with Netmums

The number of young people being radicalized online has been increasing at an alarming rate, and the pandemic exacerbated the issue. Twenty-one children under the age of 18 were arrested on terrorism charges from March 2020 to March 2021 – the only demographic to show an increase in terrorism related arrests. This worrying growth has been occurring since 2015, when young people under the age of 24 accounted for less than 20% of extreme right wing terrorism arrests; but in 2020 they accounted for nearly 60%.   

Our task was to raise awareness of Counter Terrorism Policing’s Act Early safeguarding website and support line and increase understanding amongst mums of the signs to watch out for that could mean a loved one is being targeted. This is where Netmums came in – an online community of over 4 million mums who feel safe enough to discuss these topics online and with strangers.

So, we used information gathered from a survey to create a co-branded video highlighting the key signs of online radicalisation which together with 4 native articles, a series of social posts and a week-long takeover of Netmums’ Facebook page, drove concerned parents to a drop-in clinic where they could ask a Counter Terrorism Prevent Officer questions directly. This was amplified with targeted display across the Netmums network and email newsletter features to direct as many parents as possible to the virtual kitchen table space. 

We reached over 1.4m readers over 8 weeks from July to September 2021 via Netmums’ network, with an average dwell time of 2:52 minutes (double Netmums’ own benchmark for commercial content). The live forum with Prevent Officers had over 6,000 visits, and the 3:15 minute dwell time in the forum was 85% higher than the Netmums forum average. Whilst the email newsletter article placement broke the Netmums click-through record. 

More importantly, the partnership potentially saved lives too. While the partnership was live, Counter Terrorism Policing received 103 calls to the advice line and 52 Prevent referrals, the highest number of calls and referrals since Act Early launched last year. With no additional paid for activity during this period, the client attributes this spike in referrals solely to the partnership. 

What it means to us

We are incredibly proud to win the Public Sector Content Campaign of the Year for our work with Counter Terrorism Policing and Netmums. Our response to the brief was provocative, some described it as risky, but we had confidence in both the strategy, the partner and the activation, and it paid off.

We know that for many, confronting the reality that a loved one is being radicalised online is too much to bear, and they decide to push the concern aside. This partnership raised awareness about a lesser known but hugely important topic, delivering real world impact and helping protect vulnerable young people in the online space.

The campaign marked a crucial step in Counter Terrorism Policing’s fight to protect vulnerable members of the community from the influence of extremist organisations. It is proof that smart planning guided by strong insight can deliver potentially lifesaving results.

There’s more…

We are thrilled to have also been shortlisted for two UK Social Media Awards:

Most Impactful Social Media Innovation

Wavemaker & MGA – L.O.L Surprise! x Roblox

We created a digital gaming experience for the latest product in the L.O.L Surprise! range that captivated our young audience, creating Roblox’s fastest growing game ever, whilst simultaneously delivering retail success for our new product along the way. 

Best use of Social Media for FMCG

Wavemaker UK & evian – evian x Twitter: Serving media brilliant for the return of Wimbledon

Collaborating with Twitter, we created a ‘Break Point’ sponsorship opportunity which would place evian front and centre of Twitter’s Wimbledon coverage. The package placed evian’s purity and iconic visuals ahead of two in-match highlight videos each day of the tournament. The iconicity of evian in alignment with the iconicity of Wimbledon in a brand safe environment was the perfect match. 

Best of luck to all the finalists!