The media environment in the United States and UK is very restrictive. Between national and local decency laws, coupled with media companies’ reluctance to offend, we had to find a way to stop people in their tracks and help them conjure images of gender-based violence in their minds. By juxtaposing hard-hitting headlines with censored images of violent acts, we were able to get our message past the censors while retaining maximum impact.

Every year, UN Women holds an international campaign called “The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence” running from November 25th to December 10th.

Unfortunately, as the COVID-19 pandemic drove the world indoors, cases of gender-based violence rose, while reporting fell. Typically getting out of the home offers survivors a barrier from their abusers and the opportunity to seek outside help. Quarantining made any hope of assistance all but impossible.

While it may seem unfathomable in the US and UK, in many countries worldwide there are still not legal protections for survivors of gender-based violence. Pressuring governments of these countries to implement long-needed change requires a concerted effort to drive awareness and raise funds to keep the pressure on for change.

Task:

Drive awareness of the lack of legal protections for gender-based violence survivors in order to garner both financial support and additional earned media to instigate change.

The UNseen Story leveraged a grey area in media regulations to shine a light on horrific acts of gender violence. Acts that are so graphic, they are legally prohibited from public display, which only sets the stage to reveal the most shocking fact of all — that these acts of rape, genital mutilation and violence are perfectly legal to do in dozens of countries around the world. By pixelating imagery of gender-based violence and pairing them with direct, in-your-face copy, we exposed a loophole in media restrictions and successfully got our message out into the world.

In addition to being shown at the UN during the annual conference, the UNseen Story ran around the world and across multiple media channels such as OOH, digital OOH, press, digital banners and social posts and gained international recognition from press worldwide.

To identify the audience most likely to support UN Women’s 16 Days of Activism, we focused on Emerging Activists, politically active 18 to 34-year-olds highly interested in philanthropic causes with a propensity to donate. In a world of headlines of massive political change and unrest over the need for social change in their own countries, Emerging Activists have lots vying for their attention and hard-earned funds. A persistent, yet hidden issue like gender-based violence could easily go unnoticed.

Knowing our audience tends to consume mainly entertainment and lifestyle online media, and are also interested in OOH content, we used a digital-focused approach with outdoor support to reach our audience and get them to take notice. We ran in commercial spaces such as office elevators and shopping malls to meet our audience where they were most likely to be and engage with our message.

Creative and media agencies donated head hours and there was no budget for media or production, requiring a coordinated effort to deliver the work on time and for minimal costs. The campaign was brought to life via the support of partners who were as passionate about the project as we were - in just four weeks, the team was able to convince over 19 partners globally to donate media across a range of channels including outdoor (from shopping malls and elevators to a massive poster in midtown Manhattan), digital, and print. We partnered with some of the largest names in media including The Guardian and Hearst in the UK, and Captivate Outdoor and NBC Universal in the US to name a few. The campaign delivered over 75 million impressions at a total media value of over $1,000,000.

Paid Advertising Media Results:

75+ Million Impressions (Donated Media)

$1M+ in Total Media Value (Donated)

Global Earned Media Coverages:

Fast Company, Creativity (Editor’s Pick), LBBO, Best Ads on TV, World Branding Forum

Social Media:

#16days was translated and used in more than 20 languages

3.5 Million Social Media Interactions (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram)

Estimated reach of 578,100,623