The Met selected interactive mobile services firm Buongiorno to handle the integrated campaign, which operates in two stages and is the Met's first online marketing campaign.
Buongiorno will target more than 250,000 Londoners by email to drive home the message that 999 is for emergency telephone calls only. The initiative was planned and instigated through MediaCom and tackles the 2m non-urgent calls currently received each year by the Met on its 999 number.
The initial email encourages Londoners to consider several situations and reinforces the idea that none are worthy of a 999 call. Selection of the London borough they live in then provides a pop-up prompt displaying the specific police station in their area and its telephone number.
Nikki Redmond, head of the MPS publicity branch, said: "Non-urgent calls to 999 are a serious issue for the MPS -- they use valuable resources that should be helping those that really are involved in an emergency. Targeting Londoners via email and SMS offers an alternative way of reaching our audience over our more conventional methods. It provides awareness of the problem and an innovative approach to tackling the issue around misuse of the 999 facility."
Londoners who want to provide their mobile phone number will be sent their local police station number via SMS, which can then be stored on their mobile for future use. Participants are also given the opportunity to opt-in for further information from the Met and encouraged to forward the email to friends and relatives who they believe would also benefit from the service.
Jonathan Smyth, head of agency services at Buongiorno, said: "It is fulfilling to use our marketing and technical capabilities and experience on a project that has the ultimate objective of improving community life. The recognition of the power of new media is also very positive -- both the Met and MediaCom understand that delivering a fully integrated marketing campaign is an ideal way of reaching the target audience."
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