Sexual consent is a longstanding issue. The topic’s personal nature inhibits it from being an easily accessible topic for mainstream discussion. Which leads to it being diluted in analogies, with the focus shifted to nuance vs. the topic itself (i.e. was drinking involved, was there a pre-existing sexual relationship, etc. ). Last year’s “Tea & Consent” video that used serving tea as an analog for explaining sexual consent is a perfect example of this.

We developed a suite of creative assets (video, GIF and JPG) that begged to be shared. This was critical given there was zero media budget. We adapted our creative assets into posters for the University of Toronto campus. As a statement initiative, we created apparel for the students at University of Toronto – men’s and women’s underwear with campaign messages on them.

• The campaign immediately went viral – achieving 411 million campaign impressions (over 40x greater than our 10 million goal).

• Project Consent achieved 14% share of voice (vs. our goal of 6%)

• The campaign was shared in over 231 countries worldwide.

• Earned press across leading press outlets: Huffington Post, MacLeans, Strategy Magazine, Cosmopolitan, Self, Mirror, AdWeek BuzzFeed, Women’s Health, Men’s Journal, among numerous others.

• YouTube

o In only 10 days, the campaign videos earned over 8 million video views on YouTube, and generated an 1859% increase in YouTube subscribers to the Project Consent page.

• Facebook

o Our campaign content achieved 43x more reach than Project Consent’s average content; page likes increased by 495%; and engagement rates were 8% higher than Facebook’s industry average.

• Twitter

o Our campaign content achieved 27x more reach than Project Consent’s average content; followers increased by 332%; and engagement rates were 14% higher

We launched our campaign during Spring Break (Feb 25-Mar 7, 2015), a time period when consent would have heightened contextual relevance. Our key media vehicle was our press release issued to major media outlets. It contained information about the organization, Project Consent, its goal, and the campaign’s creative. The top 10 media outlets also received cookies shaped like the campaign characters in their media kits. We connected directly with influencers involved in the consent conversation via social media and email, asking them to share our message and content.

We also used social listening to identify timely cultural conversations to attach our message to. This topical content was published across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. This monitoring also enabled us to focus our publishing towards audiences where engagement and reception was strongest. Finally we engaged in consent-themed Twitter chats to amplify our content and solicit support from consent advocacy groups and stakeholders.

“Project Consent” is a grassroots, not-for-profit organization whose goal is to combat rape culture through positive dialogue about the importance of consent. Project Consent relies exclusively on word-of-mouth and unpaid affiliate support.

“Sexual consent advocacy” in North America is a cause shared by a multitude of organizations, each fighting for share of voice and influence over the conversation. Major players, like the Ontario Government’s #ItsNotOkay cause, and U.S. initiative “It’s On Us” are well-financed, and as a result, monopolize share of voice. Smaller organizations, like Project Consent, B.C. based SWOVA, among numerous others, don’t have the financial support to generate significant awareness, and therefore their impact is limited. Objectives of the campaign included impacting the conversation about consent by obtaining 10 million impressions and increasing Project Consent’s share of voice in the category from 3% to 6%.