Keep Britain Tidy’s Dog Poo Fairy cleaned up at the How-Do UK Public Services Communications Awards last week when the ‘There’s No Such Thing as the Dog Poo Fairy’ campaign won the ‘Insight Award’ category.
The ‘Insight Award’ is given for the creation of a campaign that reflects knowledge and understanding of its target audience. The initial concept was created by Keep Britain Tidy with 20:20 Agency.
The idea was devised by 20:20 Creative Group Heads Dee Atkin and Richard Waite. Once implemented by Keep Britain Tidy irresponsible dog owners across the UK were met with an eye catching illustration of a fairy struggling to fly with one of the unpleasant deposits as if she had magically bagged it up.
The overall aim was to create something thought provoking and visually memorable making people think twice before leaving their dogs mess on the pavement.
The image alongside a glowing caption stating that there is ‘No such thing as the Dog Poo Fairy’ seems to have done the trick with monitored local authority sites showing a 43% reduction in dog fouling. In some cases, local authorities recorded impressive reductions of up to 90%.
Fairy stickers and posters have been springing up in parks and towns across Britain as fed up local authorities logged on and requested them through the Keep Britain Tidy website.
Head of Insight for 20:20 Rob Edwards commented on the importance of being insightful when it comes to tapping into the public’s subconscious, “The Keep Britain Tidy Dog Poo Fairy campaign is successful because it holds that key embarrassment factor we know works when people are caught out doing something wrong. No-one wants to be labelled the local litter lout and this campaign has struck a chord with communities across the country.”
Louise Marsden, Strategic Communications Manager at Keep Britain Tidy, said: “This is a fantastic win and acknowledges the strength of a campaign which continues to run across the country.”