How tapping into the creativity of young people helped deliver social change.

THE CHALLENGE WE FACED

Create Not Hate was a personal passion project of Quiet Storm founder Trevor Robinson. Looking back at his own experiences growing up in Clapham, he had a vision to help inner city kids who felt let down by society to see how that their life could have meaning beyond gang membership and the violence this brings.

THE TRUTH WE CELEBRATED

Pure and simple: that everyone has the potential to be creative.

THE MIND BOMB WE CREATED

Avoiding the Big Brother feel of Government campaigns, we went directly to schools with our own initiative: a short film competition called Create Not Hate, supported by mentoring from ad agency industry professionals and in-agency working sessions. Looking to unlock the inherent creativity of kids, we issued them a challenge and promise: show us how to get young people like you thinking differently about gang violence and we will get your idea made.

THE EFFECT WE DELIVERED

Written by two 14 year old boys, A Mother’s Tear was the first short film to come out of the Create Not Hate process. Apart from the online conversations, news head­lines, free national cinema exposure and nearly £2m in earned media, the real success was the empowering effect on the hundreds of kids across London who became involved in the programme – for them, doors were opened into a world they might never otherwise have seen …and to the creative potential their life could have.