Home Office man exits to Cabinet job

Graham Hooper, head of the Home Office Marketing Communications Unit, has taken the role of deputy director of corporate communications at the Cabinet Office.

His departure coincides with that of Brian Butler, the Home Office's director of communications, who has become director of counter-terrorism communications strategy at the Government Information and Communications Service.

Hooper and Butler were key figures in the M&C Saatchi police recruitment campaign and other Home Office marketing initiatives.

The department is now creating a marketing and strategic communication unit to provide integrated communications advice to Home Office teams.

The Home Office is one of the highest-spending government departments, with above-the-line campaigns for vehicle crime reduction and internet child protection.

Later this month, the Home Office will unveil an ad campaign to promote a national firearms amnesty, following an increase in gun-related crime.

The amnesty, announced earlier this month by Home Office minister Bob Ainsworth, will run throughout April.

Industry sources said Euro RSCG Wnek Gosper, which handled a gun amnesty ad campaign after the Dunblane massacre in 1996, will create the ads.

The 1996 amnesty saw 23,000 firearms and 700,000 ammunition rounds given up.

The new campaign will include press ads, although the media strategy has yet to be finalised.

This article was first published on Marketing