Refuge
Making a Helpline Famous
Capabilities:
Of the 241 women who were murdered in the UK in 2019, 116 were killed in a domestic homicide. And almost every third woman is affected by domestic abuse.
Refuge’s National Domestic Abuse Helpline – 0808 2000 247 – runs around the clock, offering confidential and non-judgemental support to women in abusive relationships.
This is the story of how we made the phone number famous, because women’s lives depend on it.
50M+
Impressions
8.1K
Retweets
47%
Increase in website visits
Domestic violence is characterised by silence: silence from those who suffer; silence from those around them; silence from those who perpetrate the abuse. Although the National Domestic Abuse Helpline is there to offer support, only 40% of women even know it exists. Fewer yet knew the number to call.
We made 0808 2000 247 the new 999, because there's safety in (phone) numbers.
We threw an issue that hides behind closed doors into the most public of places and made the number for the National Domestic Abuse Helpline impossible to ignore.
The creative was simple: a short video fronted by Olivia Colman.
The date was significant: International Women’s Day, 2020.
The delivery was unmissable: across TV, social media and the UK’s biggest outdoor screen.
We broadcast the video on every single ad break on all of Sky and 5's channels, including 41 channels on-demand. We enlisted a small army of high-profile women to change their Twitter handles to the National Domestic Abuse Helpline for 24 hours. They included Miranda Hart, Little Mix, Jorja Smith, Naomie Harris, Jess Glynne, Lorraine Kelly, Emeli Sande and Sophie Dahl.
Lastly, we took over Piccadilly Circus’ lights - Europe’s largest outdoor advertising site and a digital billboard that almost 300k people walk past every day.
Most importantly, we know it worked. People across the UK and as far away as Brazil and Thailand were retweeting the number. And people actually started talking about domestic violence: online mentions of domestic abuse increased by 300%.
The numbers are impressive. But the one that matters most? 0808 2000 247.