Saatchi & Saatchi’s knife crime campaign makes powerful use of technology

StreetDoctors, a national charity dedicated to empowering young people affected by violence, has launched a campaign that vividly dispels knife crime myths.

‘The Fatal Question’ dismantles the dangerous myth that there are "safe places" to stab someone through an interactive installation and a national film rollout. The campaign shows the stark reality that a single stab wound, anywhere on the body, can be fatal.

The campaign, developed in collaboration with Saatchi & Saatchi and directed by Jonathan Kneebone of Glue Society, centres on real-life stories of individuals who lost their lives to single-stab wounds, highlighting the fragility of the human body and the irreversible consequences of knife violence.

‘The Fatal Question’ engages young people through a three-minute film integrated into StreetDoctors’ ongoing educational workshops, delivered in schools, prisons, and community groups across the UK.

The film is complemented by an interactive installation where participants, including school children, learn about knife crime in a classroom setting before engaging with a human model designed to demonstrate the physical impact of stab wounds.

The urgency is underscored by recent statistics. According to the Office for National Statistics, knife-enabled crimes in England and Wales reached 55,008 in the year ending September 2024, a 4% increase from the previous year, with metropolitan areas like London accounting for 30% of offences. The ONS also reports that knife crime in the UK has risen by 81% in the last 10 years.

Alarmingly, hospital admissions for youths assaulted with sharp objects have risen nearly 60% over the past decade, and the number of girls under 16 murdered with knives doubled from three to seven in a single year.

The campaign’s interactive approach draws from StreetDoctors’ methods, such as using a Ribena carton to demonstrate the dangers of removing a knife from a wound, showing how blood loss can escalate rapidly.

Our take

This was an instantly vivid, disquieting and innovative way to highlight an important issue.

The looks of surprise and the theatrics of the visuals hit home the myth-busting objectives of the campaign. One for every public space, let alone a classroom, we reckon.

Credits

PHOTO CREDIT FOR ASSETS - Michael Leckie/PinPep
CLIENT: StreetDoctors
Martin Tilbury - CEO
Gerard Mitchell - Relationships & Investments Manager
Fee Lyssejko - Communications & Advocacy Coordinator
ADVERTISING AGENCY: Saatchi & Saatchi
Franki Goodwin - Chief Creative Officer
Will John - Executive Creative Director
Pete Ioulianou - Associate Creative Director
Ollie Agius - Associate Creative Director
Elliot Lee - Senior Creative
Rory Peyton Jones - Senior Creative
Ajay Sookraj - Conceptual Designer
Dyfed Thomas - Account Director
Lupien Troelstra - Account Manager
Lizzie Mabbott - Senior Integrated Producer
Nayab Malik - Senior Integrated Producer
Harriette MacNaughton - Producer
Rita Aboderin - Production Assistant
Abdul Onipede - BTS Photographer
Bridget Moyle - Senior Strategist
PRODUCTION AGENCY: Biscuit x Revolver
Glue Society - Director, Jonathan Kneebone
Ran Holst - Producer
Fiona Martin - Producer
Shawn Lacy - Founding Partner
Daisy Mellors - Executive Producer
Katie Keith - Executive Producer
Emily Atterton - Head of Production
Dalia Saeed - Production Manager
Ollie Watts - Production Assistant
Nagham El-Khoury - Production Assistant
Raha Mahamoud - Production Assistant
Robert Farley - Director of Photography
Oliver Hogan - Production Designer
Riaz Ahmed - Gaffer
PRODUCTION AGENCY: Prodigious
James Crickmore - Head of Design
Kumal Shah - Senior Designer
Joelly Nathan - Senior Designer
Conor MacLeay - Designer
Kirsten Howe - Head of Retouch
Dipika Chauhan - Senior PM
Maider Oribe Marcos - Retoucher
PRODUCTION AGENCY: Harbor
Oliver Davies - CD
Sarah Maerz - VFX Producer
Toby Anthonisz, Julia Olsson, Jared Tomkins & Diogo Gil - Animators
Karol Cybulski - Colourist
Jack Sheldrake, Mark Chapman, Clive De Souza & Savneet Nagi - VFX Artists
PR AGENCY: Taylor Herring
Lydia Turner - Director
Laura Starck - Account Director
Ella Horncastle - Account Executive
MSE.TV
Toby Conway-Hughes - Editor
Curtis Rutherford - Edit Assistant
S.J. O’Mara - Producer
MEDIA: C-Screens
Steve Chambers - Chief Commercial Officer
Alice Kimber - Senior Marketing Manager
Jennifer Beck - Marketing Executive
DESIGN: MACHINE SHOP
Dean Rowson – SFX Senior Technician
Steve Loible – SFX Supervisor
RESEARCH: Raw Research
Katie Moriarty-Hopper - Casting Producer
Guen Murroni - Senior Casting Researcher
Lorraine Nolan - Casting Researcher
Ciara Kennedy - Casting Producer
SOUND: 750mph
MUSIC COMPANY: Twenty Below Music