±±¾©Èü³µpk10

The latest Hollywood blockbuster DVD for a fiver, available before it has even hit the shops, sounds appealing. And they're not hard to get hold of: traders selling DVDs and CDs on the street have become commonplace and if we do fork out for one, our main concern is that we haven't been fleeced and given an unplayable disc. Any pang of conscience over buying pirated material is soon overcome by the thought that the film industry makes so much money anyway that a bit of DVD piracy isn't going to do anyone any real harm.

This is just one of the many misconceptions surrounding DVD piracy that the Industry Trust for IP Awareness and the British Video Association (BVA) are working to overcome. While both are concerned by the financial losses incurred by its members as a result of piracy, they are also preoccupied with the effect of the organised crime that's often behind DVD piracy, an issue that people aren't often aware of.

"Our industry enforcement body FACT (Federation Against Copyright Theft) has known for years that organised crime is behind DVD piracy," says Lavinia Carey, director general of the BVA. "When they go on a raid, they might find drugs and pornography where they find counterfeit DVDs."

As a case in point, last year FACT was involved in an investigation into an organised crime group with bases in Northern Ireland, Sheffield and Manchester. It resulted in the seizure of a large quantity of counterfeit DVDs and manufacturing equipment, including a forged police warrant card, a stun gun, an imitation firearm, various other weapons and £21,000 in cash. This led to 100 search warrants being issued throughout the US and Europe, something that demonstrates the global extent of this particular crime network. In another case last year, as a result of a 12-month investigation by FACT, a major haul of counterfeit DVDs was seized and a large quantity of paedophilic material was also discovered.

Raising awareness

Last year, the Industry Trust for IP Awareness and the BVA decided it was time to try to raise the profile of DVD piracy in the general public's mind. They soon realised that talking about industry financial losses wasn't going to cut the mustard. Also, research showed that while the financial losses were significant, they weren't quite as big as was previously thought.

"There was a feeling when we started this campaign that the pirate market was worth about £3.05 billion, but research gave us a better handle on it," says Carey. "The losses to the industry aren't the same as the criminal gain - every pirate DVD sold doesn't necessarily result in a missed sale. The industry loses about £300 million, but the criminal gain is about £600 million."

So the Trust decided to concentrate on a harder hitting message that would mean more to the consumer - that of the organised crime associated with DVD piracy and its effects, including those on local video stores.

"One issue is how to persuade the consumer that it's not just about film companies losing money, particularly in this country where rental companies are struggling to keep afloat," says Carey.

The result was the UK's biggest ever industry anti-piracy initiative, launched by the Industry Trust for IP Awareness in July last year, and involving integrated activity both above and below the line, handled by agency JDA and PR agency Blueprint PR. For it to really work, the Trust had to get the industry, as well as consumers, on board.

"We've been lobbying retailers for some time, but it was only recently that they realised it was affecting their own business," says Carey.

But before Carey could go to the retailers, she had to ensure the studios had signed up to the campaign. "Studios don't see a lot of evidence of piracy in Hollywood, so it took a long time to get them to see the threat to the distribution market," says Carey. "But once they were on board we could go to their customers, the retailers and distributors, and say 'Look, we need your support. Your customers trust you and they have a relationship with you'." It was also felt that the local retailers and distributors were best placed to get involved in lobbying local authorities and to get information from their customers about activity in their local area."

The Trust started with retailers such as HMV and Woolworths, then went out to the supermarkets and rental stores, getting big names including Asda, Tesco and Blockbuster to sign up. "It was clear who to target," says Carey. "Our members and their customers are losing sales. DVDs are an important product range for many."

Hands-on campaign

The campaign targeted retailers and distributors from all sides. First they received a visit from Trust members. The visit was followed up by a presentation to the board. They also received letters and phone calls.

The launch date of 12 July was set for the main consumer campaign, the same day as the UK premier of Spider-Man 2. Rolling out then was key to hitting consumers at a time when the big summer blockbusters were about to be released - films that would instantly be pirated. The summer is also the main car boot sale season - popular venues for selling pirated material.

While it wasn't the first time the issue of piracy had been tackled by the industry, it was the biggest effort yet. "We've had cinema trailers for years and warnings on videos, but this was the first time we'd done a wholesale PR and advertising campaign targeted at people in different situations, with different media," says Carey.

Participating retailers and local authorities were sent PoS materials highlighting the issue of organised crime and the poor quality of pirate DVDs. Retailers also received a training DVD in the post, telling them how to get consumers onboard. Information packs also went out to local authority chief executives and chief trading standards officers.

The message also had to reach the consumer. As well as the PoS material and the ATL campaign, 30 million leaflets were produced and inserted by distributors into DVD releases including Spider-Man and King Arthur.

The message warned of the risk of buying poor quality, camcordered pre-release DVDs and used images from Shrek, Van Helsing, The Village and The Incredibles to get the message across visually.

Carey says: "We targeted bought media to generate news - taking ads in the national press on the day of the launch and having a film trailer opening in same week. The rest was targeted PR activity. We spent money on print material for stores and PR and launch, then developed materials for regional launches. In England we had a launch in Manchester, then Belfast and Cardiff, then had stuff made for the pre-Christmas shopping centre tour."

People responded in their droves - and not just consumers, but the very people the campaign was out to stop too. "A lot of the material picked up over the summer showed us that the quality of DVDs had improved and the pirates had set up a returns policy in reaction to our campaign," says Carey. "Right across the board we've seen dealers respond to the campaign and the industry's position on pirating."

A number of spoof sites were also set up by the pirates in response, something Carey believes is good in a way, as it means the campaign has at least made an impact on them.

High recall

In terms of response from consumers, it wasn't the typical response to campaigns they were after, but more of an awareness build. Carey commissioned a NOP survey, which showed awareness to the campaign was high, with recall reaching just over 60 per cent.

And it's not over yet. The results of this survey are now being used to help the Trust and the BVA formulate more specific messages to take the campaign forward. "We want to maintain the people who don't buy pirate material and have no plans to, but also those who are nearer to buying them. This tends to be younger males and lower socio-economic groups. We want to get the message across to them," says Carey.

"We're just looking at what we're going to do in next couple of months. We're looking at segmenting consumer groups. The next phase will be targeted at the workplace, as our research shows that just as many people buy at work as do at car boot sales," she adds.

So while the pirates might not give up, it's clear the Trust and the BVA aren't going to give up either.