2017 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

Unlike any other domestic violence campaign in the world, this one actually invited men to beat women. But at things they were good at. Pakistanis had heard the repeated anti-domestic violence messages before, and were tuning out - most communication previously ended up making the woman seem weak and powerless. We flipped the scenario and showcased the Pakistani woman as a strong, empowered achiever who is able enough to challenge a man rather than be a submissive, weaker person she’s often made out to be.

Creative Execution

The film we launched with featured powerful Pakistani women challenging men to beat them at things they were good at. One of these women is the fastest woman in South Asia: Naseem Hameed, who won a gold medal with a record time at the South Asia games. We decided to not only plan an activation around her feat, setting up a makeshift race track in a local park where we challenged men to beat her time (everybody failed), but also devised a very clever and innovative media channel to connect directly with the target. We collaborated with a local shoe store and hid our message in running-shoe boxes. When opening the box, our target saw the message clearly: Naseem Hameed challenging men to beat her using the shoes. This was especially powerful and ironic as, sadly, men in Pakistan often assault their wives with shoes.

Results

The results were astounding. We had begun to clearly change mindsets. The video was watched a remarkable 2.5 million times generating a total of 201 million impressions. It sparked a massive conversation in the country around the issue: celebrities, talk show hosts and parliamentarians - both men and women - took up the issue. We had made the topic of violence against women trend in Pakistan. The campaign was also picked up internationally, contributing to domestic pressure. The Government of Pakistan has worked in parallel to set up the first violence against women center to provide medical and legal assistance, and is implementing a new law that protects women. Eventually, UN Women took the bold step in not only changing Pakistani men’s perception about women but in inspiring a large number of Pakistani women to stand up to abuse. Women who now know they are unbeatable.

This is the first ever anti-domestic violence campaign in the world that actually invites men to beat women. But at things that they are good at. The campaign featured powerful Pakistani women who have achieved great things challenging men to beat them at their game. One of the components of this powerful campaign was a direct piece which we targeted in a specific location.

We started with a launch film - timed to release during the International Week of Elimination of Violence Against Women - which featured incredible Pakistani women challenging men to beat them at what they excelled at. What first looked like a submissive retreat, ended up being a powerful statement that Pakistani women are strong. This was followed by personal stories of the featured women about the struggles they had to go through and everything they achieved. Once the video went viral, we took the challenge on ground and set up two separate activations, both aimed at challenging men to beat women. One of the challenges was for men to beat the speed record of one of the women featured in the video.