Author Archives: Dan Slee

30 days of human comms: #27 Lochaber & Skye Police talk to someone at risk of domestic abuse

A while back a colleague ran a campaign against domestic violence that stays with me. 

They researched how best they could reach women in particular who are at risk and the men – and it is often men – who are the perpetrators.

Their research showed that beer mats were a way of reaching people.

I remembered this when I saw these tweets from Lochaber & Skye Police to someone who was following their account. They are written as a letter and they’re written in a thread.

And then a second tweet.

And a final tweet.

A deeply personal message written in plain English. It’s so beautiful it’s poetry.

Be more human. Like Lochaber & Skye Police.

 

30 days of human comms: #26 The @FarmersOfTheUK Twitter account

You’d be surprised at just how little of the land is built on in the UK.

Just two per cent is concreted over  which leaves a lot of greenspaces. In towns that’s parks and gardens. Out of town, that’s farms and countryside.

There’s a massive split between town and country. Neither side really understands the other. I grew up on the edge of Stafford and live in the Black Country. My Dad was a countryman at heard from Cumbria. Do I know what makes farmers tick? Not at all.

Less than one per cent of the UK population is employed in agriculture so there aren’t many of them, either.

This is why the @farmersoftheuk Twitter works so well.

The account presents a new farmer every week. They’ll tweet through their day and they’ll talk about their job and their challenges.

This week? A turkey farmer. It is December.

Other weeks have seen other farmers and the account works best when you see the people mixed with shots of the farm. People, after all, connect with people.

The approach means that you can connect with people for a time and start to understand them better. And if all else fails a shot of dogs floating through your timeline has to work. well

30 days of human comms #25 the Yorkshire motorway police officer and his wife

A while back someone asked what the point of having more than the corporate account was.

Sure, the corporate account can do much but sharing  the sweets and giving the right tools to people on the frontline can be hugely effective. They can post updates on breaking incidents to help keep the traffic moving.

An example of this is the motorway police officer PC Martin Willis captured holding on Superman-style to a van that was about to topple over and roll down an embankment with the driver trapped inside.

It’s by having the tools for the officer to communicate that that the story could be told.

A beautifully human tweet? The cherry was put on top of the cake by the officer’s wife who spoke of how proud she was.

Often police officers can seem remote when they are human beings doing an often difficult job.

Be more human. Like the motorway police officer and his wife.

Thanks to Ben Proctor for spotting this.

30 days of human comms #24 Dorset Police’s Christmas song

On the one level this is great. 

On the other level, I really hope the Facebook algorithm doesn’t spot this and take it down. Or the Jackson 5 copyright lawyer spot it and send a request for damages.

The idea of singing a Christmas song isn’t new. But I like the way that you see human beings in the police car. Not officers.

Be more human. Like Dorset Police.

EDIT: Kristian Ward from Dorset Police to say they’d got the copyright issue nailed with an agreement with the publisher and social media platforms. Good work.

30 days of human comms #23 the human railway conductor

There’s something about trainspeak that somehow misses out on the English language.

This train, the announcement goes, is made of five carriages. Not ‘it has five carriages.’

So, it is a real joy to come across train staff who not only speak English but also do it with joie de vivre like this one:

Just because you have to stick to a script doesn’t make you a robot.

Be more human. Like this railway conductor.

30 days of human comms: #22 Cardiff Council’s traffic warning

The GIF is something that the public sector is gradually getting used to using.

So, when Cardiff Council wanted to send out a warning about traffic congestion they turned to the 1990s technology.

It’s the look of frustration of the driver that makes the post.

30 days of human comms #21: A missing dog pic from the New Forest

Sometimes things just fall into your lap.

The job is to spot these gifts and do something with them.

Step forward New Forest District Council whose dog warden was sent a gem of a missing dog picture here:

The dog turned up safe and well. Look at it? Its a pretty distinctive image.

dog

Too good to waste, Sara Hamilton has re-used the image for an event on her council’s Facebook page.

That’s a great use and a great re-use of an image. Well done, Sara.

30 days of human comms #20 a Welsh hardware shop’s Christmas advert

This is beautiful.

A Welsh hardware shop has created a Christmas advert for £7 that’s funny, beautiful and charming.

“We wanted to show everyone you didn’t need John Lewis’ budget of £7m to create something special,” Tom told his local paper the County Times.

 

Thanks to Leah Lockhart for spotting this.

30 days of human comms #19 Bath & North East Somerset’s singing food hygiene certificates

There was a curry house when I worked as a reporter who used to ring up every week to try and get into the paper.

This ranged from the actually newsy, like fundraising for Children in Need, to the not quite so, like we have a food hygiene certificate. Back then everyone used to have them. But then came the one to five start ratings for hygiene. They became something to shout about.

One council in the South West has thought-up a new way to shout about these certificates. Send out the environmental health officer to sing a Christmas carol with them.

So, on the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me a certificate with five stars on it.

A daft but effective way of celebrating a top score on what can be an important yet routine piece of legislation. Good work Dan Cattanach.

30 days of human comms: #18 the busking police officer

Communications should not just be what a small group of people in the comms office does.

For West Midlands Police this is also how its officers behave when they meet the public.

This video clip of a busking police officer went viral when it was posted.

Opinion was mixed. ‘Shouldn’t he be out arresting burglars?’ was one view. But for me, an officer who is able to respond to people as a real person will build more bridges.

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