With the World¡¯s Most Entertaining Police Recruitment Video receiving millions of views and making headlines worldwide, the campaign entered its second phase today with the launch of a series of posters.
Police Minister Stuart Nash and Assistant Commissioner Wally Haumaha this morning (29 November) revealed the first of the posters, on a bus shelter outside Parliament.
Minister Nash said the ¡°absolutely fantastic¡± campaign would undoubtedly help recruit the hundreds of people Police needs over the next four years.
¡°It¡¯s a bit of humour, but a very serious message as well,¡± he says. ¡°If you want a good career, an interesting career, join 51½ÖÉä.¡±
The posters continue the ¡®Do you care enough to be a cop?¡¯ theme, highlighting how fit and community-minded people can make their passions and interests work for the good of New Zealand as police officers.
They follow the weekend¡¯s launch of the video which by this morning had reached 10.5 million people on social media and been seen more than four million times.
Within 72 hours of the video¡¯s launch, the Police Recruitment Facebook page had 11,000 new followers.
Karen Jones, Deputy Chief Executive Public Affairs, says the video succeeds because it involves real Police staff.
¡°We¡¯ve been blown away by its international success because our focus was on the Kiwi market,¡± she says.
¡°We¡¯ve had really good feedback, internally and from other police jurisdictions, that it really is one of the best recruitment videos ever.
¡°Now it needs to work for us ¨C and it¡¯s great that Recruitment are seeing the results.¡±
Kaye Ryan, Deputy Chief Executive People, says within a couple of days of the video launch around 700 people created profiles on the Newcops website, expressing a serious interest in joining Police.
¡°We¡¯ve been clear this is a call to action,¡± says Kaye. ¡°We¡¯re definitely seeing results ¨C 700 new profiles represent 700 people taking the first step of the recruitment process.
¡°Around 20 percent identify as Asian and 15 percent as M¨¡ori, which is fantastic for the diversity of people we need to attract so we can better reflect our communities.¡±
Accolades for the video have come from social media users, news outlets and police services worldwide. Many comment on the diversity of our workforce, the Kiwi humour - and, of course, the fleeting appearance of a police cat.
One Twitter user¡¯s comment - ¡°My job hunt is over. Based solely on this video, I¡¯ve decided to join @nzpolice¡± ¨C voiced the interest among the campaign¡¯s target market, 18 to 24-year-old Kiwis of all ethnicities.
Feedback received at Police National Headquarters included, from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police: ¡°Your recruitment video is absolutely OUTSTANDING!!!! Our Executive Office has all watched and we can¡¯t stop talking about it. Now we need to get our creative juices flowing to up the game on our recruit video!¡±