Refuge: Lauren Luke

Credits & Description:

Advertiser: REFUGE
Agency: BBH
Category: Best Low Budget Campaign
Advertising campaign: DON'T COVER IT UP
Agency Producer: Bryony Dellow (BBH)
Copywriter: Jack Smedley (BBH)
Art Director: George Hackforth-Jones (BBH)
Executive Creative Director: Nick Gill (BBH)
Agency Producer: Jeremy Gleeson (BBH)
Creative: Stephen Noble (BBH)
Creative Director: Pablo Marques (BBH)
Creative Tech: Richard Atkins (BBH)
Strategic Business Lead: Carly Herman (BBH)
Digital Strategist: Claire Coady (BBH)
Strategist: Simon Robertson (BBH)

Client Brief Or Objective
Over 65% of women who experience domestic violence keep it hidden, particularly young women. Refuge, Britain’s leading Domestic violence charity wanted to address this. But with no budget, were faced with a problem, how do you talk to a notoriously hard to reach audience about a subject they don’t want to talk about? Our strategy was to take a subversive approach, using understanding of our media culture combined with powerful content to create an impact far beyond the budget available. We used a trusted medium as a 'Trojan Horse' to deliver shocking content to the audience.

Execution
We knew teens wouldn’t come to us voluntarily, but we couldn't disrupt their media consumption. So we decided to subvert it. To use existing structures and behaviours to sneak our message to them in a way that they would welcome and engage with on their own terms. Subverting Lauren Luke’s normal make up tutorial and capitalising on the close and trusting relationship she has with her audience to deliver our message and surprise them created an impact far beyond that which a traditional PSA announcement would have elicited (and in a much more affordable way).

Outcome
- Coverage generated 92 million impacts worth $9 million with £0 investment- 1.2 million YouTube views. This is 2,587% more views than Lauren’s previous five videos- 1,092% more comments and a 1,388% higher engagement rate than Lauren’s 5 previous posts. - 9 065 tweets generating exposure of 19 million. Number of tweets directed to @RefugeCharity increased by 350%- Single and direct debit donations increased YOY against a trend of decline. - 34,550 visitors arrived on the campaign page on Refuge’s website - Over 6,000 people contacted Refuge to get help

Implementation
This Trojan Horse was Lauren Luke- a make-up artist who posts video tutorials on YouTube. Her channel has 455 000 young, female subscribers and our objective was to post content that would be powerful enough to motivate them to share it. In July 2012, Lauren posted a tutorial called “How to look your best the morning after”. Viewers were shocked to see a heavily bruised Lauren concealing marks of abuse as if it were normal. At the end, the “Don’t cover it up” message appeared with a call to action encouraging viewers to “Share this and help someone speak out”.