Jersey creative agency Freedom Media and the States of Jersey Police have been announced as finalists at the 2020 Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) Awards for the 2018/2019 Consent Campaign: ‘I know you will get caught.’
The CIM Awards identify and celebrate outstanding marketing by organisations, individuals and teams. They recognise that high standards of quality and integrity are vital to the success of marketing, as well as rewarding the innovation delivered by marketers who are at the cutting-edge of their profession.
The consent campaign has been shortlisted for ‘Marketing Campaign of the Year’, ‘Best Content Marketing Campaign’ and ‘Best not-for-profit/Charity/Social Marketing Campaign.’
It raised awareness of Jersey’s new Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) for current and non-recent survivors of rape and sexual assault; communicated changes to the law on rape and sexual assault; and tackled the rape myths that impact a jury’s decision-making. It also targeted 18-35-year-olds who are using dating apps, agreeing to sexual acts and then changing their minds, following a rise in reports of sexual assaults from ‘hookups’ on dating apps.
Prior to SARC’s opening in late 2017, the only way rapes and sexual assaults could be reported was directly to Jersey Police. As a result, many people did not come forward.
Worse still, these crimes rarely translated into convictions.
The campaign was launched at the same time as a change in the Sexual Offences (Jersey) Law, which provides greater protection for victims of any gender. Until the law was passed in 2018, male rape was not recognised. It also clarified the law on consent, particularly for cases involving alcohol or drugs. The campaign needed to address the many issues that had been revised and communicate them to the public.
To be successful, this campaign also had to challenge inaccurate assumptions. A commonly held myth is that most victims of rape will try and fight off their attackers, whereas, in reality, most victims show little physical resistance to the attack and ‘flop’. Another myth is that rape is a crime of passion. It is a crime of power and control.
Acting Superintendent Alison Fossey from States of Jersey Police said:
“The impact of this campaign was considerable. Since delivery in late 2018 / early 2019, we’ve seen a 12% upturn in reported offences going directly to the SARC and the States of Jersey Police. There is no doubt that the campaign was a significant factor in this increase.
“We’re thankful to Freedom Media for their approach and the creative results. This is a very difficult subject to cover that requires great sensitivity. Delivering a message with genuine impact is hard but they’ve achieved this. There are many victims who are now benefitting from professional support that they may otherwise never have sought.
“It’s important that we also thank the local media and all the local community groups and establishments who were instrumental in the success of the campaign.”
Freedom Media designed the campaign that used a series of predatory animal images. The images showed the two faces of a rapist that preys on the vulnerable but looks like an ‘everyday person.’
To ensure they used wording that was authentic, anonymised phrases from impact statements were used. It was intended to shock, and ensure that audiences understood the consequences, without blaming the victim/survivor.
The updated law makes it clear that consent can be taken back at any time before or during the sexual act and this was the focus of the second part of the campaign featuring the ‘hook-up’ concept. The tagline reads ‘Swiped right? Just because you said it was on, doesn’t mean you can’t change your mind.’
Hannah Shellswell, Creative Director at Freedom Media, said:
“This is the most challenging and complex subject we have been asked to tackle as a creative agency. Working on a campaign like this that makes a difference to people’s lives is very rewarding. It is an absolute honour for this campaign to be recognised at the prestigious CIM Excellence Awards. I am very proud of our talented team who work with all of our clients to deliver first-class campaigns and results. It is quite something to be returning for the fourth time to the National CIM Awards and to be shortlisted against international marketing agencies that look after global brands.”
Laura Osmand, co-ordinator of the ‘SARC’ (Dewberry House) sums up the impact of this campaign:
“Freedom Media spent time with us at Dewberry House, understanding a victim’s journey and learning about the work that we do. There are so many myths and stereotypes about rape and sexual assault, about what consent is, about the kind of people who rape and about who it happens to. Freedom Media developed a campaign that helped challenge these stereotypes.
“The months following the campaign we had an increase of victims accessing Dewberry House services for support in relation to incidents of sexual assault. In one month alone we were able to support over 17 victims who had reached out to us for support. We felt this increase was a result of the campaign and the awareness that it brought towards our service. We also had a significant amount of local press and media coverage because of the campaign, which increased our profile and public awareness.
“Some of the victims that we spoke to referenced the campaign, saying they had seen it. One victim felt it was “empowering” that the focus was on the perpetrator rather than the victim.
We witnessed meaningful discussion amongst professionals about the campaign and we felt that people had been educated and better informed about the typologies of sexual assault.
The campaign reached a wide audience, through posters and social media. We believe that the campaign reached its objective, which was to encourage more victims of sexual assault to come forward, disclose their cases and seek support.”
Chris Daly, Chief Executive of CIM, commented:
“We have seen many outstanding entries this year, and the breadth of entries clearly demonstrates our profession’s hard work over the past 12 months. In uncertain times, the UK marketing industry has risen to the challenge to produce high-quality campaigns and significant rewards. For over a decade, our Marketing Excellence Awards have recognised the industry’sachievements and high achievers, but, this year, picking a shortlist has proved harder than ever. I would like to offer my congratulations to all those who have been shortlisted; they represent the very best in the UK’s marketing talent.”
Stuart Stables, Commercial Director at Freedom Media, commented:
“I am so proud of the Freedom Media team. This was a difficult subject matter to tackle and each of them were committed to create and deliver a campaign that would empower and encourage survivors to come forward. We are thrilled for States of Jersey Police who work tirelessly for our local community. We have won four CIM Excellence awards in recent years and hope to add toour total, but regardless of the result on the night, this is a brilliant achievement.”
