Powerful Mayor of London Campaign '#HaveAWord' Set to Return
Ogilvy UK’s new Mayor of London campaign launches tomorrow. In March 2022 their first hard-hitting campaign that shone a light on inappropriate male behaviour went live to a huge response. The powerful #HaveAWord campaign came after a year in which violence against women in London had been much debated, following the murders of women including Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa. By graphically addressing verbal harassment and the bystander behaviour which enables it, the campaign showed that men can play a role in calling out misogyny. Ogilvy UK’s businesses worked together to deliver massive impact. The film was launched with a comprehensive media relations campaign, influencer engagement plus billboards, broadcast, social, sports partnerships and even appeared in men’s bathrooms across London, using the hashtag #HaveAWord.
In June 2022 London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, assigned £18m of additional funding to tackle the behaviour of perpetrators. The biggest impact had been on men, with 85% of men who heard of the campaign saying they’d call out bad behaviour when they saw it.
The film was featured on the BBC, Sky, ITV, in The Times, Telegraph, Mail, Express, Standard, Glamour, Cosmo, GQ, was translated into French by Marie Claire, adopted by the United Nations, reported on worldwide, and posted and shared positively on all social platforms generating a total of 3.1b earned impressions. The campaign has since rolled out into bars, restaurants, nightclubs, gyms, offices, schools and universities in addition to charities, councils, police forces, and academic institutions across the UK, US, Europe, Australia and Singapore, with campaign posters appearing this week in McDonalds restaurants across London. The campaign has certainly triggered and touched many. The #HaveAWord campaign film has been viewed over 15 million times. Top London football clubs, from Chelsea to Crystal Palace, Arsenal to West Ham as well as rugby giants from Harlequins to Saracens have backed the campaign. The full campaign video is being rolled out as part of the Mayor’s VAWG toolkit which is being made available to every secondary school in London, and can be viewed here.
#HaveAWord for Mayor of London won many awards. D&AD awarded the campaign a White Pencil for impact, which is only awarded to exceptional projects that use the power of creativity to drive behavioural, societal or policy change. Out of 489 entries only one white pencil was awarded, and it was to this campaign. Plus D&AD awarded it a Graphite Pencil for Creative Use of Budget. Cannes Lions awarded #HaveAWord a Glass Lion that celebrates culture-shifting creativity, work that implicitly or explicitly addresses issues of gender inequality or prejudice, through the conscious representation of gender in advertising. Marketing Society Awards made it Campaign of the Year 2022 and Judges Choice for Most Inspirational Story. The DMA Awards gave it seven Golds and a Grand Prix. The One Show awarded the campaign a Gold, Silver and two Merits. #HaveAWord also won at LIA’s, Sabre, PR Week Global, British Arrows and Clios.
In November 2022, the Mayor unveiled a new £1million VAWG prevention toolkit which is supporting teachers and funded workshops in schools, and is helping boys understand why their words and attitudes towards women and girls matter. Read more here.
The Mayor’s refreshed Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategy can be found here.
The Mayor has overseen a £117million investment in tackling violence against women and girls since he was first elected in 2016. This includes investing over £45million in specialist support for victims and survivors, over £35million in housing provision for people who have experienced domestic abuse, over £17million in programmes to address perpetrator behaviour, and over £4million in prevention activities such as programmes that challenge incorrect perceptions about what is acceptable behaviour in relationships or in public.
Look out for the new Mayor of London campaign by Ogilvy UK launching tomorrow.
