At the core of this idea is a strategic insight: That it is extremely difficult to reach women in abusive relationships, because if their abusers find out they are trying to leave, their lives are in danger. Everything about this campaign was built around that one life-or-death insight.

During the pandemic, domestic violence has increased by 30%. Women are effectively trapped in their homes with their abusers, and the isolation makes it even harder for them to reach out.

Interval House Women’s Shelter wanted to help. But how could we get lifesaving information into women’s hands, when their abusers are watching their every move?

Reaching women in abusive relationships is always a challenge. In the midst of a pandemic, it’s next to impossible.

Even with cases of domestic violence rising, calls to women’s shelters were declining. Trapped at home with their ever-present abusers, women had no way of getting the help they needed to leave.

Interval House Women’s Shelter needed to find a way to reach these women and get them the lifesaving information they so desperately needed, without their abusers finding out.

The goal was to have more women reach out to Interval House and leave their abusive relationships.

The first step of our process was holding a strategic round table with counsellors at Interval House who have daily contact with survivors of domestic abuse.

Through hearing their stories of these women’s experiences, we learned that getting information to them was a matter of life or death.

If an abuser even suspects that a woman is going to leave, violence will escalate.

Knowing how crucial it was to be discreet became a key part of our strategic and creative breakthrough.

It got us to thinking: How and where could we reach these women, knowing that their abusers were following their every move?

Where WON’T her abuser be?

We put lifesaving information in the one place a man would never look… a tampon.

Our specialized, resealable tampons were imprinted with all the information a woman needs to safely leave her abuser, including our crisis line number, signs of abuse, and a checklist of what to bring.

We also sent full boxes directly to nurses, counsellors, and police – people who have contact with women in abusive relationships, even in the midst of Covid-19.

Note: A version of this campaign ran pre-Covid, but these direct targeting executions were developed in response to the pandemic.

The success of this campaign depended entirely on getting this lifesaving information into women’s hands, without their abusers ever finding out about it. And it worked.

805% increase in women seeking help

NO impressions

NO PR

NO abuser will ever know