Direct Line for Business has unveiled its ‘This is not a van’ campaign to spotlight the impact tool theft has on tradespeople across the UK.
Developed by creative agency Saatchi & Saatchi, the campaign film sees a tradesman’s van transformed into an office to reinforce the message that a tradesperson’s van is also the space they work out of and should be respected as such.
According to the insurance company, over a third (35%) of tradespeople are aware of attempts to break into their van in the last year. A further fifth of tradespeople (22%) have actually had tools stolen from their van over the same period.
In the spot, plumber Joe states: “Is transforming my van into an office the solution? Clearly not, but it got your attention.”
“Turning Joe’s van into an office was an exercise in the ridiculous but it had an important message at its core – for tradespeople, vans really are like offices, but they’re not legally protected in the same way. We hope that our unlikely transformation helps to highlight the extent of this issue,” Saatchi & Saatchi chief creative officer, Franki Goodwin, said.
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The majority of tradespeople (87%) believe the penalties for tool thieves are not strong enough.
The campaign spotlights the legal difference between stealing materials from a van – classed as theft – and stealing from an office, which is classed as non-domestic burglary, a crime that reportedly receives on average twice the custodial sentence as theft from a vehicle.
Direct Line senior marketer Oliver Lester added: “Theft from vans is a major problem for tradespeople. From our interviews with reformed thieves, this crime is seen as low risk with a high reward, tradespeople carry high value items in their vans and the punishment if thieves get caught is less severe compared to, for example, theft from an office.
“When speaking with our customers, we know a van is a tradesperson’s place of work. It’s where they take their calls, it’s where they eat their lunch, it’s where they do their paperwork. We’re working hard to raise awareness of this issue, not just on behalf of our customers, but for every tradesperson across the UK that has and could fall victim to theft.”
