Domestic violence is a ‘gendered crime’, defined by The United Nations as: “Violence directed against a woman because she is a woman or that affects women disproportionately.”

80% of high frequency victims of domestic violence are women. (Crime Survey, England and Wales, 2018). On average, two women are killed by their partner or ex-partner every week in England and Wales. (ONS, 2018).

The National Centre for Domestic Violence provides free legal help for victims, often in the form of potentially life-saving injunctions.

Domestic violence spikes during the World Cup: reported incidents in the UK increase 26% when England play, 38% when they lose. Similar statistics play out across the world.

The National Centre for Domestic Violence provide emergency legal injunctions for victims. With incidents set to surge we must raise awareness and connect people with life-saving help. Currently there’s no awareness of the issue, let alone the NCDV but we can’t compete in budget terms with other brands trying to leverage the World Cup.

Domestic violence spikes during the World Cup: reported incidents in the UK increase 26% when England play, 38% when they lose. Similar statistics play out across the world.

Reports of domestic violence spike during the World Cup. In the UK alone, reported incidents increase 26% when England play, 38% when they lose. Similar statistics play out across the world. For all the post-match analysis, no-one was talking about these numbers.

Football itself doesn’t cause domestic violence; the behaviour and actions of abusers who exert power and control over their victims causes domestic abuse, however Katie Ghose, chief executive of Women's Aid, stated, "Domestic abuse does not happen in a cultural vacuum. The sexist attitudes, chants and behaviour at football matches encourage an environment in which women are belittled and demeaned."

Domestic abuse is often a hidden crime that goes unreported. 1.9 million people in England and Wales were estimated to have experienced domestic abuse between March 2016 and March 2017, but just 1.1 million domestic abuse-related incidents and crimes were reported to police over the same period.

By hijacking the fiercely patriotic language of fan-culture we created impact and forced the public to rethink what the World Cup means for domestic abuse victims. We broke the silence to increase awareness of the issue and position the NCDV as a key source of life-saving help.

Every 4 years the World Cup ignites football fever. But there’s an ugly side to the beautiful game: domestic violence spikes during the tournament. In the UK alone, reported incidents increase 26% when England play, 38% when England lose. Similar statistics play out across the world.

The National Centre for Domestic Violence save lives by providing free legal help such as emergency injunctions. It was vital we communicated this service at a time when victims were proven to be in most danger.

So, we hijacked football culture: subverting the behaviour of fans adorning their bodies with their teams’ national flag by reimagining these flags in the form of realistic wounds and bruises across victims’ flesh. In doing so we purposefully increased the visceral reaction to an already-emotive symbol, interrupting football chatter and provoking much-needed conversations around domestic violence and how to seek life-saving help.

We uncovered a powerful insight: reports of domestic violence spike during the World Cup. In the UK reported incidents increase 26% when England play, 38% when they lose. Similar statistics play out across the world

The National Centre for Domestic Violence provides emergency legal injunctions for victims and with incidents set to surge it was vital we connected people with life-saving help.

But we faced a colossal challenge: no-one was aware of the issue and every other brand wanted to leverage the World Cup. We simply couldn’t compete in terms of budget.

By hijacking the fiercely patriotic language of fan-culture we created impact and forced the public to rethink what the World Cup means for domestic abuse victims.

We meticulously reimagined iconic flags in the form of realistic wounds and bruises across victims’ flesh. The imagery was designed to capture attention, enticing viewers to look closer and absorb the chilling facts, purposefully delivered with clean, concise typography.

The campaign ran for the duration of the World Cup. We were reactive to match results and worked fast to launch new flags to coincide with specific ‘knock out’ matches, when emotions were running high and victims are proven to be most vulnerable.

The powerful images spread across digital, OOH and print. Relevant flag executions were released on social channels moments before kick-off for specific ‘knock out’ matches.

We reimagined 5 flags: England, France, Switzerland, Belgium and Japan across OOH, print and digital executions.

Over the campaign period, calls for help to the NCDV increased by 19.6% (returning to normal after the campaign ended).

Social awareness for the NCDV increased by 1250+%.

Our hero post alone reached 4.7m+ organically (on Facebook). It was organically shared 40,000 times and generated 30K comments.

The campaign created organic news headlines in more than 13 countries across the world, across more than 100 news platforms including: BBC, ABC, Huffington Post, The New York Post and Fox News.

The campaign, and the news coverage it provoked, reached millions of people worldwide, increasing awareness and opening up much-needed conversations around domestic violence and where to seek help.

Even public bodies such as the National Health Service and the police adopted the campaign for their own use.