To rise above the clutter of other charities vying for the disposable dollar, we needed to move away from the stereotypical charity approach of ‘victims’, ‘doom and gloom’ and ‘arousing pity’ for the organisation. To encourage debate around the topic of domestic violence our communications strategy was to adopt a dynamic and empowering tone of voice and approach. The media and creative approach were therefore driven by the core campaign thought ‘Fight Domestic Violence’. Women were the core target audience for this campaign. While Women’s Refuge welcome donations from all and any segment of the New Zealand population, women primarily use their core services and there was already a skew towards donations by women. We felt it would therefore be most productive to ‘fish where the fish are’.The objective was to raise awareness of the issue of domestic violence and encourage debate in order to raise awareness of Women Refuge’s need for money.Encourage and inspire New Zealanders to give generously in 2001, to increase the donations delivered in 2000 by 100%. Women were the key target hence magazines were optimal to deliver the ‘Fight Domestic Violence’ platform given;Special bond that exists with women and magazines as a trusted information source Credibility and trust of magazines as a result of the magazine/reader relationshipAbility to align our message with editorialNiche targeting potential through magazine genres (in particular fashion)Deliver reach and connection with our key female target audience, and raise awareness of family violence by creating impact and attention, and ultimately encourage a donationCould be harnessed to draw attention to the serious nature of domestic violence and raise awareness of Women’s Refuge and their need for supportFashion magazines were recommended as the titles best suited to deliver the media idea – they reach and connect with women, fashion is a core part of women’s lifestyle therefore has priority in their lives and fashion magazines captured the essence of what we wanted to achieve. Three fashion titles that reached 40% of women were used to deliver the campaign.We needed to achieve three objectives in our magazine negotiations:Sell each magazine partner on the fact that they needed to implement an innovative approach that was outside their comfort zone as well as their readersLeverage our small budget to generate enough media exposure to achieve reachGet editorial to place the concept in the middle of their fashion spreads to form part of their editorial contentIt was a big challenge for the editorial teams to undertake this concept, as they consistently seek to protect the content of their pages, reader relationship and the credibility of their content. While the editors and publishers were initially nervous, they saw the merits of each approach and understood the important role that magazines would be playing in the campaign. They realised that this was an important issue for their readers and one in which both themselves and readers should embrace and support.This campaign delivered on all fronts. We got people talking - the amount of media coverage received across the country was unprecedented and made it clear that we had achieved our objectives.Donations were exceeded on the previous year by 322%. The media team:Identified and harnessed the unique bond between women, fashion and magazinesUnderstood how women’s magazines have a one to one relationship with the reader - a ‘trusted friend’ hence an ideal environment to connect with womenLeveraged the insight that Domestic Violence is not only a powerful issue that has high awareness, but comfort with the issue is low which provided the opportunity to go ‘under the radar’ to ‘shock and surprise’ women in to stopping, thinking and ultimately giving,Delivered a ‘media relevant’ message in an impactful mannerFed our media insights into creative development to create a ‘Fashion Spread’ that replicated the style, editorial and tone of each magazineNegotiated with publishers and editorial staff to merge with editorial as they are traditionally very protective of their editorial content, reader relationship and credibility of their environment. The ‘deal’ not only had to leverage a very small budget, but also achieve the buy in of the editorial decision-makers. This campaign was powerful and innovative – it captured the imaginations of the target audience (women) and the media to deliver a media concept that was new and entrepreneurial in execution. We pushed the boundaries in magazines, not for ‘stunts sake’ but to create a context in which creative then developed content.Media thinking led the campaign idea by identifying and harnessing the unique relationship that women have with magazines and fashion to draw attention to the serious nature of domestic violence, raise awareness of Women’s Refuge and get women giving generously. Based on media consumption insights, fashion magazines were the only medium that could ‘shock and surprise’ women into action. Women’s fashion magazines are generally read as an indulgence and have a one to one relationship with women, therefore to get Women’s Refuge on the agenda we leveraged this relationship to redefine ‘what is in fashion and what is not’. Needless to say, domestic violence is definitely not fashionable.This campaign was not just about ‘placing ads’ its success also lies in the fact that the media team negotiated with the editorial staff to take and place this concept within the context of their own fashion spreads so that our message and the magazines editorial content were truly integrated. This is a groundbreaking achievement given the fact that editorial staff of fashion magazines are very protective of their content and are loath to associate with advertisers.We successfully raised awareness and donations with this campaign by delivering a 322% increase in donations compared to the previous year.

The media team:Identified and harnessed the unique bond between women, fashion and magazinesUnderstood how women’s magazines have a one to one relationship with the reader - a ‘trusted friend’ hence an ideal environment to connect with womenLeveraged the insight that Domestic Violence is not only a powerful issue that has high awareness, but comfort with the issue is low which provided the opportunity to go ‘under the radar’ to ‘shock and surprise’ women in to stopping, thinking and ultimately giving,Delivered a ‘media relevant’ message in an impactful mannerFed our media insights into creative development to create a ‘Fashion Spread’ that replicated the style, editorial and tone of each magazineNegotiated with publishers and editorial staff to merge with editorial as they are traditionally very protective of their editorial content, reader relationship and credibility of their environment. The ‘deal’ not only had to leverage a very small budget, but also achieve the buy in of the editorial decision-makers.