Respect the Range 

The Defence Training Estate is shared land. It’s where families and locals spend time. But it’s also where our Armed Forces train. It can go from tranquil to treacherous by the hour, 24 hours a day.

The new ‘Respect the Range’ campaign from the Defence Infrastructure Organisation encourages everyone to be mindful of this dual use, and to only use the land when it’s safe to do so.

To reduce incursions on the land, and ultimately keep the public and the Army safe from harm, we needed to drive frequency and awareness through an integrated campaign which instilled a core behaviour change - checking the training times before visiting.

Based on our key insight that the public respect the Army, but do not respect the dangers that come with accessing the training areas, our creative proposition was based on mutual respect, encouraging everyone to respect the range and reduce incursions on the land. 

To bring the dual usage to life, we developed the integrated ‘Respect the Range’ campaign across Digital, Social, Press, Radio, Search and PR which juxtaposed the public and military land use.

We created a short film which documented the authentic views and experiences of regular users of the land – and the soldiers that use these areas for Military training, shot on location at  Aldershot training area.

A 30” Radio and Digital Audio Ad dramatises the contrast between the public and army uses of the land, utilising binaural technology to create a powerful sensory experience.

Press Ads focused on three the key uses of the land – hiking, cycling and dog walking so that local audience we able to self-identify their own behaviours.

A paid search campaign ensured we were driving people to the relevant pages to check training times.

We accessed our more hard-to reach audience through Partnerships, creating a Partner Toolkit including bespoke assets. 

The campaign was also  supported and amplified by TV personality and avid outdoor walker Julia Bradbury.

Results

• 5.3 Million impressions on Facebook.  

• 4x the number of video views compared to industry benchmarks.

• 15x more people checking the training times.