Request ID: FOI-1970-2122 Date published: 30 December 2021
You asked
1. BRIEF
I would like to see the brief from TfL for the See Your Side ad campaign created for TfL by VCCP London, November 2021. This was later "paused" by TfL. The original Tweet from VCCP has since been deleted. https://twitter.com/VCCP/status/1461002960788459522
2. COMMUNICATIONS
I would like to see all communications between TfL and VCCO London discussing the aftermath of the advert once it was published on YouTube in November 2021.
3. COST
I would like to see the cost to TfL of this advertising campaign.
4. OFFICIALS
I would like a list of officials who worked with VCCP on this campaign.
5. SIGN-OFF
Finally, I would like to know who at TfL finally signed off on this campaign thereby giving VCCP the go-ahead to publish the YouTube video.
Thanks.
We answered
Our ref: FOI-1970-2122/GH
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 1 December 2021 asking for information about the See Your Side ad campaign.
Your request has been considered under the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and our information access policy. I can confirm that we do hold the information you require.
The ‘See their Side’ campaign was developed following new research commissioned by TfL, and engagement with various stakeholder organisations. The independent research commissioned by TfL involved qualitative research with psychologists, police, road safety managers and public relations professionals, as well as cultural analysis on thousands of sources of literature, social and traditional media, and a review of more than 100 adverts over 20 years. The research found that individually, culturally and as a society, we tend to ignore road danger at best, but we also accept it and normalise it – and importantly, believe it is inevitable. Decades of road safety advertising have largely failed to change behaviour for the better among road users, because risky behaviours are an expression of the values and beliefs people hold about acceptable road use. The proposal to tackle the culture of road use was supported by stakeholders and TfL sought feedback from stakeholders at two specific phases of campaign development, including a draft script. TfL has been open and transparent with stakeholder organisations and sought to deliver the ‘See their Side’ campaign with their support. TfL will continue to listen to feedback and improve engagement processes.
TfL maintains that it cannot achieve Vision Zero on its own and continues to be committed to engaging fully with partners in the development and delivery of initiatives that seek to reduce road danger on London’s streets.
With regards to the specific questions you asked:
1. BRIEF I would like to see the brief from TfL for the See Your Side ad campaign created for TfL by VCCP London, November 2021. This was later "paused" by TfL. The original Tweet from VCCP has since been deleted. https://twitter.com/VCCP/status/1461002960788459522 Please see the attached marketing brief. Please note that in accordance with TfL’s obligations under Data Protection legislation some personal data has been removed, as required by section 40(2) of the FOI Act. This is because disclosure of this personal data would be a breach of the legislation, specifically the first principle which requires all processing of personal data to be fair and lawful. It would not be fair to disclose this personal information when the individuals have no expectation it would be disclosed and TfL has not satisfied one of the conditions which would make the processing ‘fair’.
2. COMMUNICATIONS I would like to see all communications between TfL and VCCO London discussing the aftermath of the advert once it was published on YouTube in November 2021. Please see the attached document ‘FOI-1970-2122’. As explained above, personal information has also been redacted from these communications.
Information relating to another VCCP client has also been redacted as it is subject to a statutory exemption to the right of access to information under section 43(2). In this instance the section 43(2) exemption has been applied as disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice our commercial interests, as well as those of VCCP and the third party, as disclosure would make companies less likely to deal with us.
The use of this exemption is subject to an assessment of the public interest in relation to the disclosure of the information concerned. We recognise the need for openness and transparency by public authorities, but in this instance the public interest in ensuring that we are able to deal with our choice of companies outweighs the general public interest in increasing transparency of our processes.
3. COST I would like to see the cost to TfL of this advertising campaign. A total of £995,547.31 was budgeted for the campaign, however actual spend was £765,571.39 as a result of pausing the campaign and switching the media value to another Road Danger Reduction campaign. This spend covers creative production cost, media spend, as well as market research.
Please note this figure may reduce slightly in future once final costs for areas such as media spend come in.
For clarity we have provided details of costs for all original media planned and the actual media costs incurred, reduced following the decision to pause the campaign.
4. OFFICIALS I would like a list of officials who worked with VCCP on this campaign. The names of the individual officers who worked on this campaign are considered personal information and therefore exempt from disclosure as explained in our answer to Question 1 above. We can however advise that working on this campaign were: Customer Marketing and Behaviour Change Executive, Customer Marketing & Behaviour Change Insight Lead, Customer Marketing and Behaviour Change Manager, Customer Marketing and Behaviour Change Lead and Head of Customer Marketing and Behaviour Change.
5. SIGN-OFF Finally, I would like to know who at TfL finally signed off on this campaign thereby giving VCCP the go-ahead to publish the YouTube video. Following engagement with some 27 external organisations, this campaign was signed off by Miranda Leedham, Head of Customer Marketing and Behaviour Change, Gabriella Neudecker, Customer and Revenue Director and Vernon Everitt, Managing Director Customer, Communications and Technology
If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for some reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.
If you are not satisfied with this response please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours sincerely
Graham Hurt FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
