Orange the World, #HearMeToo

Tackling gender-based violence as part of the UN Women and WPP partnership

A historic and international public awareness campaign, 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence is designed to mobilise governments, activists, civil society and others to end violence against women and girls around the world. The campaign takes place each year from 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, to 10 December, Human Rights Day. 

The campaign has been commemorated by UN Women since its inception in 2010, and for 2018, the United Nations theme for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women was “Orange the World: #HearMeToo”. It aimed to honour and further amplify voices, whether a housewife at home, a schoolgirl abused by her teacher, an office secretary or a sportswoman bringing them together across locations and sectors in a global movement of solidarity. It was a call to listen to survivors, to end the culture of silencing and to put the survivors at the centre of the response.

WPP agencies created six campaigns to draw awareness and promote messaging around 16 days in the UK, the US, Mexico, Thailand, India and Turkey. UN Women worked with J. Walter Thompson and GroupM agencies in these markets to create bespoke creative and media strategies that were locally relevant and impactful. These included influencer strategies, interactive websites, contextual ad placements, PR outreach, digital OOH, radio placements and much more. The support paid off with almost 60,000 unique page views and a massive $2.8 million in donated pro bono media from global partners including: Oath, Snapchat, Facebook, Spotify, Pinterest and Amazon, and local media partners including: Boardway Media, Republic TV, Cattri, SHOWTV, Ocean, Primesight, All4, CNN and Kinetic. 

This collaborative effort saw agencies, partners and clients rally together to donate, support and create influential work for such an important movement and issue that affects as many as one in three women and girls worldwide. 

How 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence was marked across the world: 

Mexico (Wavemaker, J. Walter Thompson and Kantar Millward Brown) 

Following research by Kantar, the Mexican campaign targets young Mexican girls who often find it difficult to talk about their experiences of gender-based violence. The campaign enlisted four Mexican Youtubers with a combined number of six million followers to generate content to help create better support networks and mechanisms for girls and women in need. 

Turkey: #Fireflies (MediaCom and J. Walter Thompson) 

Just as fireflies protect each other from danger with their flashing lights, the same should apply for women who are exposed to violence. The campaign encouraged viewers who knew women who experience violence but can’t raise their voices, to light up a firefly via www.atesbocekleri.info: “let your light be her voice, courage, and power”.  UK: #DrawALine (MediaCom and J. Walter Thompson) 

The campaign builds on awareness created with the previous year’s activity, using the same famous faces, including actors Benedict Cumberbatch and Billie Piper, to talk about the unique work UN Women do globally to end violence against women and girls. 

The campaign also asked the public to share their own pictures and messages explaining their personal reasons for why they want to #DrawALine, creating a visual representation of how people in the UK are united in ending violence against women and girls.  US: Face the Facts (Wavemaker and J. Walter Thompson) 

Face the Facts is a text-based campaign that aims to correct common misperceptions and misunderstandings on the subject of violence against women. 

Flipping the perception of violence as taboo on its head, the campaign focuses on educating “Slactivists”, a sub-section of millennials that support social causes purely online and via social media, on the prevention, protection and services UN Women supports.