Gang Life Is No Life: Gang Prevention Campaign 2023
With funding from Manitoba Justice, The Manitoba Association of Chiefs of Police (MACP) Organized Crime Committee worked with Argyle to launch a powerful campaign addressing youth vulnerable to gang recruitment.
In 2019, Winnipeg Police Service’s Gangs and Guns unit estimated Winnipeg had 25-30 gangs and up to 4,000 gang members and associates. In 2022, it was estimated that there were 40 street gangs, many of them Indigenous-led. Youth at risk of recruitment have often experienced childhood trauma or live in poverty — the ripple effect of oppression across generations. High dropout rates and few economic opportunities for youth also contribute to gang recruitment success. Manitoba Association of Chiefs of Police (MACP) secured funding from Manitoba Justice to help youth avoid or leave gang involvement and partnered with Argyle to develop a powerful campaign to promote off-ramps to vulnerable youth.
This initiative featured three short, impactful videos, illustrating the vast difference between the myth of what gang life offers and the reality of what it delivers. The concept used a popular video game look and feel to reach viewers aged 13-16 in a way they could relate to as well as share. A phone number at the end of each video encouraged viewers to send a text message to The Link: Youth and Family Supports, a trusted community agency offering a potential lifeline for those wanting help to leave or resist gang life.
We reached youth with a digital campaign on social platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok. Additionally, targeted YouTube ads ran on specific gang awareness channels in Manitoba. The initial digital campaign ran for six weeks from July 26 to September 12, 2023, with a second phase from November 9 to Dec 15, 2023.
Research
To effectively reach Manitoba’s youth, Argyle worked closely with the Winnipeg Police Service’s anti-gang unit and reformed gang members to ensure our message, tone, visuals, and call to action resonated with young audiences.
Our research included the following:
- Met several times with the steering committee made up of representatives from Winnipeg Police Service, RCMP and MACP. A number of these members are experienced officers dealing with organized crime, gangs and guns, and illicit drugs.
- Reviewed British Columbia’s End Gang Life campaign and website.
- Reviewed a variety of other gang-related online resources.
- Met several times with the Winnipeg Police Service’s Gang Prevention Coordinator who works directly with youth being recruited by gangs, are current gang members, or have left gang life.
- Through the Gang Prevention Coordinator, we secured a meeting with two reformed gang members. One spent 10 years in a federal prison for armed robbery; the other spent three years in a youth correctional centre for gun possession.
As a result of our research, we learned:
- Youth as young as 12 are recruited to deliver drugs and weapons as runners. Recruitment happens at corner stores, 7-Elevens, outside school grounds and at youth emergency shelters where kids are at their most vulnerable.
- The lure of money is huge as many kids live in poverty. They also look up to older gang members (17 to 19-year-old recruiters) who are often older brothers or older youth from their neighbourhood.
- Youth are looking for brotherhood, family, love, respect, security and ultimately – a sense of belonging.
- Some Indigenous youth may feel, due to a variety of societal and economic factors beyond their control, that they have very few choices other than to join a gang. People who live in these areas/communities who are not gang-affiliated are scared about going to authorities when incidents occur for fear of becoming targets of the gangs themselves.
- The development of an audience persona based on our insights revealed a digital campaign rather than traditional media (TV, radio, out-of-home) would best reach Manitoban 13 to 16-year-olds. Plus, a provincial reach – beyond Winnipeg – was required based on growing gang activity in many communities throughout the province.
- An anonymous way to reach out for help was desirable, preferably by text. The real-life stories of youth being groomed or recruited for gang involvement revealed intimidation tactics and fear of reprisal if one didn’t buy in to the gang way of life. Anonymity for youth looking for a way out was a requirement.
- Reformed gang members made it very clear that a message sponsored by police enforcement organizations would be quickly dismissed by youth. It was important to keep the client’s brand off the videos and include the community agency, The Link, offering help to youth.
Analysis, Planning and Strategy
Our goal
Through a public education and awareness campaign, we would offer vulnerable youth off-ramps to avoid or leave gang involvement and teach them about the harmful realities of gang life versus the myths used during recruitment.
Our strategy
To achieve this goal, we leveraged the lived experience of the reformed gang members we met to reach youth with authentic, real-life gang recruitment scenarios. As a first-year objective, we wanted to get young people’s attention, raise awareness and build trust. This is the starting point for a long-term approach to impacting gang recruitment. Helping influence youth to not move towards gang life was our goal, and one potential indicator would be the number of texts sent to The Link from youth looking for help. Our partnership with The Link was key as they have been serving youth in Winnipeg and northern Manitoba for close to 100 years. They are well known by youth, approachable and credible. Trust was the leading factor needed to encourage youth to click on the ad, visit the website, watch the videos and text for help.
| Objective | Metric |
|---|---|
| Awareness Get young people’s attention to the risks of gang life | 2 million advertising impressions 2 media coverage pieces about the launch |
| Trust Encourage youth to click on the ad, visit the website and watch the videos | 3,000 clicks to the link’s website |
| Action Help influence youth to avoid / move away from gang life | 30 youth using the text helpline |
Communication, Execution and Production
Using the insights we learned from our research, we developed three videos to address common scenarios within gang life including illegal drugs, sexual exploitation and gun violence based on real-life stories we heard about from our reformed gang member advisors. To make the videos attractive and relatable to youth, the style was based on popular video games, and we developed Gang Life is No Life characters, storylines and a call to action. In each of the three 15-second videos we were able to establish an action from a gang recruiter (The Ask; The Invite; and The Brotherhood) and then the resulting detrimental outcomes (The Give; The Cost; and The Bloodshed).
The background settings created for these three videos depict scenes common to many towns and cities within Manitoba. From a social housing project, to a mall, to a downtown scene that is recognizable as Winnipeg with its overhead walkways, the familiarity helped create a sense of authenticity and credibility – an important point we learned in our research and knew we had to achieve.
To make the action easy for youth, the end board offers the call to action to “text 204-910-6010 to get out”, and names The Link as the community agency offering help. Based on insights from our research, we deliberately did not include the MACP brand in the videos to ensure the message would be credible to youth.
The Gang Prevention Campaign was launched on July 26, 2023, with a news conference hosted at The Link. Emceed by steering committee chair Inspector Grant Stephen from the RCMP’s Federal Serious and Organized Crime Unit, the event featured a representative from Organized Crime with the Winnipeg Police Service (Inspector Elton Hall), a founder and action therapist from Spirit Horse Initiative whose team provides support to youth on the streets of downtown Winnipeg (Matt Davidson), and the CEO of The Link (Kerri Irvin-Ross). Media interest at the event was impressive with coverage from CTV, Global, CBC, Winnipeg Free Press, Winnipeg Sun and ChrisD.ca. There were also over a dozen organic social media posts thanks to partners including RCMP, Winnipeg Police Service, MACP, The Link and Spirit Horse Initiative.
We brought the videos to life with a digital campaign across social platforms popular with youth including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok. Additionally, targeted YouTube ads ran on specific Manitoba gang awareness channels that we learned were frequented by youth interested in learning about gang activity across the province. The digital campaign launched for six weeks from July 26 – Sept 12 with a second six-week phase from Nov 9 – Dec 15.
Evaluation and Measurement
The campaign exceeded the client’s expectations, both on reach and engagement. On the ground, police enforcement tactics to reach youth attracted to gang recruitment had never before seen such success:
“Our gang prevention coordinator works with agencies in the community to provide an offramp for young people to exit gangs or the lifestyle. She has been very successful in referring youth to agencies over the previous three years. On average, she has provided assistance to between 20 and 30 youth annually. The Gang Life Is No Life campaign has provided an avenue for youth to connect directly to The Link and other social agencies at any time of the day, discreetly. This media campaign has resulted in over 150 referrals in a short period of time,”
Inspector Elton Hall, steering committee member from the Winnipeg Police Service.
Inspector Hall presented this campaign and its results to law enforcement audiences over the past few months. There is an appetite for replicating this approach in other jurisdictions both within Canada and into the US. MACP has secured funding from Manitoba Justice to continue the campaign in 2024. Creative ideation and planning are underway to build on our momentum.
11.68M
impressions
45,666
clicks to the Gang Life Is No Life webpage on The Link’s site
150
text conversations from 109 unique phone numbers
6
media outlets (print, TV, online)
SnapChat and TikTok were the most successful tactics of the campaign, demonstrating both strong click-through rates and low cost-per-click. This indicates a strong alignment between messaging and the target audience on these platforms.