The Federal Prosecution Service of Brazil faces a tragic reality: 1,388 rape cases per day. Almost one per minute. 98% of them are women. And 78% happen with those under the age of 14. With this reality, the agency needed to bring much more than communication to the table. We had to help bring to life a law to protect rape victims: the Next Minute Law, which ensures free, immediate assistance to rape victims in public hospitals. And through communication make it well known to every single woman in the country.

Two months before the launch of the law, Brazil elected a far-right president: Jair Bolsonaro. During his election campaign, he promised to take down the Next Minute Law. To fight that, we had to make sure we spread the word about the law before the new government took over. If women learned about it, it would be more difficult for him to take it down.

On March 8th (Women’s Day), in partnership with Federal Prosecution Service, we helped legitimate the law. Once approved, to make it memorable, we coined a name for it: The next minute law, which ensures free, immediate assistance to rape victims at public hospitals. The minute after the assault. On the launch day, a 24-hour video in which in every minute, a new victim is assaulted. Billboards with lighting 6 times stronger were installed on streets with high incidence of violence and little pubic lighting in order to not only inform about the law, but also to prevent new assaults. On soap operas, whenever a fictional abuse happened, the actress performing the victim would back during the commercial break to alert other potential victims about the right procedure to be followed after an assault. A Google tool helped geolocate rape reports for immediate assistance at hospitals and police stations.

To help change this reality and promote the law, first we needed the highest authority in Brazil to announce it: the Federal Prosecution Service of Brazil. To make it well known and memorable, we had to coin a name for it, so that every woman in the country could get to know it and relate to it.

To announce the law, first we had to announce the tragedy. Brazilians were not aware of this tragic statistics of 1,388 rape cases every day. Then, based on this shocking number, we communicated the law to help assist victims in every health touchpoint for the target audience. On TV, we launched a 1-minute spot to inform the one rape case/minute rate. Online we had a 24-hour video on major channels. Digital influencers, Youtubers, celebrities, singers, TV hosts, everyone helped spread the word about the law. On November 25th (the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women), every TV channel, magazine, newspaper, OOH channel and digital platform talked about it.

986 million media impressions

35% lift in ad recall

Magazine covers

Talk shows

The project was presented at UN Women NY

Regarding health: 80% increase in the access to contraceptive pills and PEP

Regarding safety: 10 new women’s police stations in Sao Paulo working 24/7. There will be 30 new stations around the country by 2021.