An eye-catching police bus advertising campaign has helped lift recruitment applications by almost 50% in the first two weeks. As we reveal the first image of a similar-looking commuter train, we speak to the campaign’s creative agency.
They’re causing thousands of motorists, pedestrians and commuters to do a double-take. Is it a booze bus? An enormous traffic enforcement vehicle? A new way of transporting crooks?
Five Auckland commuter buses decked out in police livery for a new police advertising campaign are creating plenty of public and social media interest, and a surge in recruitment applications.
The double-decker Auckland Transport passenger buses resemble oversized police vehicles, such is the simple but effective nature of the creative artwork.
Authorities have weaved a careful legal route, and the campaign is about to expand - a commuter train will soon be decked out in a similar style.
The five 100-passenger buses symbolise the 500 people whom police aim to recruit as new officers.
Police brand and marketing manager Jess Bovey said police were “ecstatic” with “how the public has got on board” with the campaign. Each of the buses carries a call to action - “apply now” and “Next Stop: Making a difference”.
“As a recruitment tool, it’s definitely tagging on,” said Bovey. “Our total application numbers are the highest seen in 10 years.”
In the first two weeks of the campaign, weekly recruitment applications have jumped from 104 to 127 to 154. That’s a 48% increase in a fortnight.
Police revealed this month that the cost to wrap the buses totalled $119,800, including print, installation and 12 weeks of media advertising. They say that for the return and response so far, it’s been one of their most cost-effective campaigns.
The creative campaign is the work of Wellington-based agency EightyOne, and both Bovey and EightyOne’s executive creative director and partner, Chris Bleackley, say it has been received positively.
“The brief is clearly that New Zealand police need more officers,” said Bleackley.
“We need an advertising campaign that says we need 500 officers, but just saying that isn’t going to get them.
“You have to do it in such a way that people remember it. Once you come up with the idea, it seems pretty obvious, but what does 500 look like? Essentially, it’s a billboard campaign on wheels that is the same size as the problem.”
Bleackley said there was a lot of work behind the scenes, ensuring police and Auckland Transport were comfortable.
At first glance, many people might think they’re new traffic enforcement vehicles or a booze bus - it is understood that there was some initial nervousness from Auckland Transport.
“They were saying people won’t want to get on the bus,” said Bleackley. “They won’t think it’s a real bus ... but that’s because it’s a double-take. Hopefully that’s what its power is.”
Bleackley said he understood authorities had gone through protocols to ensure there were no issues with the buses and their livery.
Section 48 (3) of the Policing Act specifically refers to the impersonation of a police vehicle: “A person commits an offence who, without reasonable excuse, represents any vehicle, craft, or other conveyance as being in the service of the police in circumstances likely to lead a person to believe the vehicle, craft, or conveyance is in the service of the police”.
Bovey said: “For the record for anyone asking, it is not a legal police vehicle that can chase after people or stop vehicles; no, you can’t flag it down for emergencies (please call 111 or 105); yes, you can catch it and tag on like a normal bus.”
Auckland Transport says feedback to the campaign “has been incredibly positive”.
They and police released a series of social media posts backing up the campaign’s popularity.
“During the planning phase, Auckland Transport was consulted and in collaboration with NZ police, the creative approach was enhanced to emphasise the recruitment aspect, ensuring alignment with the overarching campaign objective for recruitment,” said AT media partnerships and engagement lead Simon Soulsby.
“The intention was to support the police recruitment drive by leveraging the public’s curiosity.
“We were aware that initially customers might perceive the bus as a booze bus, only to discover the clever integration of a tactical recruitment message.”
In response to a question about Section 48, Soulsby said: “The campaign was signed off by the client, NZ police”.
The buses will be on the road for three months, although Bleackley teased that the campaign was about to expand.
“It’s just Auckland at the moment, but we will be expanding the campaign to other modes of transport. I can’t tell you, but it’s bigger than a bus.”
Most likely, then, a train?
“TBC,” said Auckland Transport.
Police later confirmed that, yes indeed, an Auckland commuter train would soon sport the police livery and released an artist’s impression. It will be operational after it is “wrapped” next week.
Bleackley said police were “really great, a fantastic client”. His agency has also worked with police on the “Ride Along” video series, featuring a day in the life of police officers.
“They know they are going to have to do special things that people talk about to achieve their goals,” said Bleackley.
“They’re up for it and they’re a lot of fun. They’re very realistic and practical, and over many years, they’ve done their best to change the public perception about the police.
“They’ve bought fun work in the past, which makes it obviously easier for us. They’re very keen to do good work and they know that the work has to stand out,” said Bleackley.
On the bus campaign, he said: “We gave them a whole heap of things ... this was really just the first one, the first one to market. It’s the one that was easiest to put into the world. And the one that they obviously thought was going to be most effective. There are more to follow.”
Bleackley is a seasoned creative - one of the geniuses behind ideas such as Absolutely Positively Wellington, and more recently WellingtonNZ’s big yellow Esc computer key promotion in Manhattan.
“I love it more than ever,” he says of the creative industry.
“Everyone loves nostalgia, of course, but you have to go into it thinking that now is the best time to be working in the industry. It has to be - if you didn’t have that attitude, then you wouldn’t have giant police buses and all of the other things that we’re working on at the moment.”
When asked who was behind the bus creative specifically, he said: “Always the team, always the team”.
He cited art director James Henderson, copywriter Chris Appelros and account manager Greta Brown as key agency staff who drove the project over about two months.
In early June, Police Commissioner Richard Chambers spoke endearingly of the new campaign.
“Auckland has always been a key recruitment area for us and we are keen to be highly visible and advertise far and wide. We know that the buses are ideal for reaching the whole of the city.
Chambers features in a video version of the new campaign. The video ad, showing him on the bus and tagging on a possible recruit, was released on Sunday.
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.
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