Kiyan Prince Foundation wins DMA Grand Prix 2021

The UK anti-knife crime organisation, the Kiyan Prince Foundation, a charity named for the promising young QPR footballer has won the Grand Prix at the DMA award for a campaign, Long Live the Prince, that made a huge impact at a time when much of the public had grown immune to crime messaging.

The charity worked with Agency Engine and the EA Sports FIFA team.

Why it matters

Video games can tell profound stories. The campaign brings Kiyan, who was murdered when trying to break up a fight aged 15 in 2006, to the video game Fifa to create a virtual athlete based on projections of the young man had he fulfilled his potential as a footballer.  “The strategy was to reframe Kiyan's story from tragedy to inspiration,” the submission writes.

Details

• On the anniversary of his death, Kiyan was re-signed by QPR and was entered in FIFA 21 as a playable character with a boot deal from adidas.
• The campaign put out a hero piece of shareable audio-visual, featuring Raheem Sterling and Kiyan's father, Dr Mark Prince OBE.
• The initiative was covered by BBC, ITV and Sky News, gained extensive newspaper coverage and raised three times the normal annual revenue for KPF in a single day.

2021 DMA Awards on WARC