Women's Aid: Call to Stop

Credits & Description:

Entrant: Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, London
Women's Aid Domestic Violence - "Call to Stop"
Corporate Name of Client: Women's Aid/ Metropolitan Police
Agency: Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, London
Executive Creative Director: Paul Brazier
Creative Directors: Steve Jones/Martin Loraine
Copywriters: Steve Jones/Martin Loraine
Agency Producers: Rebecca Scharf/Claire Toms
Production Company: QI Commercials
Director: Dominic Savage
Producer: Stephen Gash
Recording Studio: 750mph, London
Audio Engineer: Ben Gulvin
Description of the Project
A series of commercials feature the horrifying sounds of domestic abuse. A voiceover explains that, while the sounds are distressing, they will continue until listeners dial a given number to have them stopped: ‘Just as in real life, making a call can make it stop.’
In association with the Metropolitan Police, the campaign encourages the public to stop domestic violence by calling police whenever they hear it.
Olivia Coleman (Winner of Sundance Special Jury Prize) reprises her role of a battered wife from the movie ‘Tyrannosaur’. To ensure realism, the commercials were directed by double BAFTA winning director Dominic Savage, with a voice-over by BAFTA nominated Actress Lindsay Duncan.
Women’s Aid and Metropolitan Police maintain confidentiality on call statistics, but the campaign led radio station LBC to build an hour of domestic violence programming around the commercials. This included editorial, a phone-in with victims of domestic violence, and interviews with the Women’s Aid client and the Met Police Liaison Officer.
Nicki Norman, Deputy Chief Executive for Women’s Aid, said: ‘This campaign shows that there is something you can do if you become aware that domestic violence is happening, and that by calling the police you could save a life’.