How the Kiyan Prince Foundation transformed a tale from tragedy to inspiration | WARC | The Feed

How the Kiyan Prince Foundation transformed a tale from tragedy to inspiration

The Kiyan Prince Foundation (KPF), a non-profit seeking to combat knife crime, generated huge awareness of its mission, and major fundraising support, through its powerful “Long Live the Prince” campaign.

Kiyan Prince

• Kiyan Prince was a talented youth team footballer for Queens Park Rangers (QPR) who was fatally stabbed in 2006 while trying to break up a fight outside his school.
• Despite the prevalence of knife crime, many boys and young adults are often immune to traditional forms of messaging that seek to address this issue.
• In aiming to break through with this audience, KPF focused on celebrating the man Kiyan should have become. 

Giving Kiyan a future

• KPF used a digital model to demonstrate what Kiyan would have looked like as a 30-year-old man. 
• Kiyan was re-signed by QPR on the anniversary of his death, and was entered into the popular FIFA 21 video game as a playable character. 
• KPF produced a hero piece of shareable audiovisual content featuring footballer Raheem Sterling and Kiyan’s father. 

Long Live the Prince

• The campaign was covered by the BBC, ITV and Sky News and every major newspaper.
• KPF raised three times its normal annual revenue in a single day. 
• The work won the Grand Prix at the 2021 DMA Awards.