In Lebanon there’s never been a law protecting women against abuse, and more women are being killed by husbands each year. KAFA is a Lebanese organisation that has been advocating for women’s rights for many years. But theirs is an uphill battle in a male-dominated society that expects women to be submissive. There’s also a cultural tendency not to report abuse or interfere in other’s affairs. KAFA was getting closer to having a law to protect women passed, but they needed a final push with a campaign that would encourage more women to speak up.

We conducted a social experiment with a women’s only taxi service, replacing the GPS system with a remote one we connected to the taxi’s radio. This innovative live, real-time radio commercial allowed the human GPS to direct the driver from another vehicle, giving our regular, registered customers an experience that made it impossible to stay silent. We then created a film of the experiment and seeded it online and through social media, using key media and social influencers in Lebanon, before targeting the Lebanese diaspora in countries around the world.

The campaign generated 138 million media impressions globally. It gained so much attention in Lebanon and elsewhere around the world, it was the final push KAFA needed to get the law passed and the first man in Lebanon jailed for brutally assaulting his wife, driving change in the way Lebanon treats women.

Once the film was ready, the PR strategy deliberately canvassed the support of key media organisations and influencers in Lebanon who had shown an interest in women’s rights issues before. The campaign was initially seeded through this group to ensure the conversations it started resonated in the right places and were quickly amplified.

Then we targeted the Lebanese diaspora in countries around the world, to raise awareness and encourage them to make a real difference back in their home country. Alongside this unique, targeted approach, international mass media outlets were used to spread the campaign around the world in offline and online media.

The campaign generated 138 million media impressions globally. It gained so much attention in Lebanon and around the world, it was the final push KAFA needed to get the law passed and the first man in Lebanon jailed for brutally assaulting his wife, driving change in the way Lebanon treats women.