Cyber security campaign gone wrong

The Home Office in the UK recently launched a campaign called "Be Cyber Streetwise" to raise awareness about cybersecurity for individuals and businesses. The campaign featured print ads and a website with a juvenile cartoon concept depicting urban scenes with parody illustrations related to data protection. While the illustrations were well-crafted by Steve May, the cartoon approach was unsuitable for such a serious topic.

The online implementation of the campaign was severely flawed. The website forced users to select whether they were a home or business user before seeing any campaign content--an approach that would instantly lose visitors before communicating any messages. The correct strategy would have presented global messaging with segmented content for deeper exploration.

Content on the site was hidden behind random signposts, animations, buildings, and characters, making it feel "more like a children's game rather than an informative website." Navigation was buried in a newspaper icon at the bottom left. The site lacked searchability and used an exploratory interface for factual information where users typically need to find specific content quickly.

The website also failed on responsiveness and accessibility. "Any site you need to provide a completely separate accessible version of today has not been well conceived." The design resembled "an overblown flash site from 1998."

Given that M&C Saatchi received a £4 million budget, the execution fell short. The author argues that appointing a single full-service agency across all media inevitably produces poor results in at least one area. Smaller specialist agencies working together would likely deliver superior outcomes at lower cost.