TORONTO—A dangerous looking criminal glowers menacingly, his face disguised by a hoodie — but this may be the most poorly chosen disguise possible, as the hoodie is transparent, revealing his identity for all to see.
 

One of the print ads created by DDB Canada for Toronto Crime Stoppers

 

The message behind this compelling multimedia spot: “When reporting crimes to Toronto Crime Stoppers, you remain anonymous — the criminals don’t.”

 

The campaign for TCS was created pro-bono by DDB Canada. Contributing were DDB creative directors Todd Mackie and Denise Rossetto, copywriter Daniel Bonder, art director Yusong Zhang, with Frank Hoedl of Westside Studio handling photography and retouching by Hoedl and Daniel Essegern.

 

“It was always our intention to make the reveal of the criminal look as natural and contextual as possible. We wanted it to appear as if his face was actually a part of the item used to conceal him — many hours were spent retouching the hoodie to ensure it appeared as though the criminal’s face was printed onto the fabric,” said Bonder.

 

Aside from the print ads, which will appear in Toronto newspapers and “wild postings,” the campaign also features a television spot, titled “Anonymous,” wherein a hooded robber chooses the worst possible convenience store to hold up.

 

Currently, the Anonymous spot can be found at www.222tips.com and TCS’ YouTube channel, with plans to strategically seed it where Torontonians browse the web. “Anonymous” will also appear in-store at Mac’s Convenience stores across the GTA, and Community Police Officers plan to share the spot during school presentations.