This campaign set out to address an age-old problem: male violence against women and girls.

To truly tackle this issue, it had to be different from other campaigns before us.

We used behavioural science to identify the most effective way to change men’s behaviours.

We recognised that by stopping the bystander culture, using peer-to-peer pressure, we could tackle low level misogyny. A first step to prevent extreme violence.

Proving creative strategy can inject ideas and drive long-lasting cultural change, changing men’s attitudes now and generations of men to come.

Male violence against women and girls is an epidemic in the UK: A woman dies at the hands of a man every three days. 97% have been sexually harassed.

Historically, the onus has been on women to adapt their behaviour to protect themselves. But it’s not women who need to change, it’s men. Not just the perpetrators, but those who stand by and let misogynistic behaviour go unchallenged.

Our Brief from the Mayor of London was to change the attitudes – and actions – of men, and make London a safer space for women.

Our campaign objectives were:

1.Increase awareness about the scale and urgency of the issue:

get all Londoners to understand the issue and that misogyny can escalate.

2.Challenge and prevent misogynistic attitudes and behaviours by men:

get all men to reflect on their own misogynistic behaviour and call it out in others.

Research shows 98% of violent crimes against women are committed by men and low-level misogyny is often a precursor to violence - a “harmless” WhatsApp ‘banter’, an inappropriate comment to a woman on the street. Yet, too many men remained passive bystanders when witnessing misogynistic behaviour happening.

Whilst there’ve been campaigns to help women feel safer before, most of them talked to the wrong people: women. This campaign had to be different from many others that have gone before us.

We needed a campaign that would provide genuine behaviour change but critically, didn’t blame women - shifting the responsibility from woman to men to making women safe.

Our challenge was to hold men accountable and make them part of the solution, shifting their role from passive spectators in a bystander culture to women’s allies not just changing men’s attitudes now, but changing behaviour of generations of young boys to come.

We used a behavioural science model (COM-B) to identify the most effective way to drive behaviour change.

(C)apability: We recognised that we couldn’t reduce a perpetrator’s ability to commit acts of violence, because we couldn’t police every man and every act.

(M)otivation: Campaigns before us either targeted women advising them to change their behaviour or targeted men as perpetrators which triggered a defensive response. It was easy for them to ignore.

(O)pportunity: Men weren’t the enemy but the solution. Instead of speaking to the perpetrator, and a role no one identified with, we decided to speak to the bystander. For too long men have been passive bystanders when witnessing misogynistic behaviour. They dismiss it as harmless and playful. The key strategic leap was recognising that by stopping the bystander culture, using peer-to-peer pressure, we could tackle low level misogyny. A first step to prevent extreme violence.

From a complex problem, an utterly simple idea:

‘Have a word with yourself, then your mates’ is a simple, yet powerful call-to-action that asks men to reflect on their own behaviour, to challenge themselves about being bystanders allowing misogyny to happen; and then asks them to challenge the behaviour of their friends.

We created a raw campaign to make men uncomfortable with witnessing misogynistic behaviour and to break their own inertia about acting against it.

The campaign ran on social, cinemas, Premier League football games and anywhere harassment is commonplace. Pubs. Restaurants. Even male bathrooms - a true behavioural intervention at the very moment of possible reflection. Out-of-home took over London’s Transport and busiest footfall areas. A photo call with the Mayor and sports stars was used to drive media coverage and we placed interviews with the Mayor and spokespeople across broadcast and print media. Men had nowhere to hide.

The campaign not only “increased awareness about male violence against women in London” but got every section of society reacting. A pro bono campaign that achieved 3.1bn earned impressions and 307mn earned reach. It was spontaneously shared by large organizations such as FIFA and the UN, celebrities, and influencers.

But also “got men to reflect on their misogynistic behaviour and call out others”: 85% of men who saw the campaign said they would now call out misogyny if they see it.

And ultimately, the campaign is driving social change. Changing attitudes that will infuse our culture. Attitudes that will last.

The UN included the campaign in their training materials and all schools across London added it to their curriculum. Recently, street harassment has become a crime in England. Impacting not only new generations of men, but new generations of women and girls.

“Have a word” is creating a legacy.

Male violence against women is one of the oldest problems faced by society. But in the UK, it had become an epidemic that we all started to get too familiar with.

In the UK, a woman is killed every 3 days by a man.

This was personal for Sadiq Khan. As Mayor of London, he had seen the public lose faith in the Metropolitan police after a series of violent crimes against women, including the death of Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old who was murdered by a serving officer.

He implemented measures to act on this issue, starting by encouraging a new policy to make misogyny a hate crime. But there was much more he wanted to do about it.

The brief he gave to his own Office and team was asking for “a campaign that would provide genuine behaviour change but critically, didn’t blame women”.