‘Completely reframes the way West Australians look at this issue’: WA Government launches DV campaign, via 303 MullenLowe Perth, Carat WA and Mediahub
The Western Australia Government has released a campaign focusing on the dangers of coercive control, via Carat WA, 303 MullenLowe Perth and Mediahub.
Set to enter the market this week, the platform leverages the tagline, ‘It doesn’t have to be physical. Coercive control is family and domestic violence’. Overall, the campaign was developed to inform audiences – particularly victim-survivors and their close connections, as well as perpetrators – on what coercive control actually is, and how it can affect individuals, communities and families.
It also highlights that young people and children can be victim-survivors.
The work serves as “the first phase of a two-year awareness campaign” that will play on search, ambient, digital, out-of-home, BVOD, radio, social and press.
303 MullenLowe contributed to the platform through media strategy, creative and strategy, via social, through-the-line communications and web content channels.
“To make the connection that coercive control isn’t just unacceptable, it IS domestic violence, we borrowed symbolism associated with physical violence to mark our footage every time coercive control took place,” explained Sara Oteri, 303 MullenLowe Perth’s executive creative director.
“The technique not only draws your attention to the otherwise subtle abuse taking place, it cements that coercive control is a form of violence, even when it’s not physical.”
Discussions with people who bear lived experience, “sector and aboriginal stakeholders and community members” were crucial to creating the work.
“The research groups we attended were hugely enlightening. Not only did we get a far better understanding of the prevailing attitudes and beliefs held on the subject, but you could see a series of light bulb moments,” revealed chief strategy officer at 303 MullenLowe Perth, Matt Oakley.
“Whether it was men who previously dismissed controlling behaviours, or people with lived experience of family and domestic violence who said that at the time they were unaware of what was happening to them, everyone appreciated just how difficult coercive control is to recognise.
“We hope the resulting campaign completely reframes the way West Australians look at this issue.”
Mediahub and 303 MullenLowe teamed up with Carat WA to further develop the campaign’s strategy, ensuring that audience insights were heavily tied to “media planning principles” for maximum impact.
“Whilst we cannot broadly target people based on their experience, we can design a media strategy to be ready for all scenarios and leverage the key principles of persistency and consistency to increase education of coercive control, creating unique journeys for the WA community as they move towards better understanding of coercive control,” said Kylie Macey, general manager at Mediahub Perth.
“The research findings were enlightening and highlighted the scale of the job to be done,” added Michelle Testa, client partner at Carat WA.
“We mobilised the WA media industry to ideate and support the strategy, building bespoke solutions to support the campaign framework. This work challenged the team at every step of the way as they persisted to develop a solution that would get to the heart of the issue for WA.”
The coercive control platform is the second body of work Carat WA, Mediahub and 303 MullenLowe have launched for the WA Government recently, with the first being the vaccination campaign, ‘Don’t Assume You’re Immune’.
More information and resources on domestic and family violence can be found at 1800RESPECT.
Credits
Client:
Department of the Premier and Cabinet
Department of Communities
Creative Agency: 303 MullenLowe Perth
Executive creative director- Sara Oteri
Copywriter- Ellysia Burton
Art director – Stephen Hansen
Chief strategy officer – Matt Oakley
Junior planner – Harvey Clarke-Smith
Head of production/agency producer – Johnathan Julius
Managing director – René Migliore
Senior business director – Holly Creasey
Senior business manager – Devon Jackson
Head of design – Alby Furfaro
Graphic designer – Lucas Faim
Artworker- Suzanne Whoston & Angela Homann
Mediahub (Media Strategy)
General manager: Kylie Macey
Carat WA Team
Client partner: Michelle Testa
Planning director: Ash Idle
Group investment director: Sam Giuffre
Snr client manager: Emily Whyte
Client manager: Morgan Hopkins
Digital executive: Nicole MacNeil
Client associate: Oliver O’Meehan
Head of performance: Sean Birkholtz
Performance director: Lucy Thompson
Digital executive: Mae Dolan
Data & analytics lead: Griffin Becker
Data & analytics director: Meenakshi Mondal
Production Co: Clockwork Films WA
Post Production: Clockwork Films
Executive producer: Katie Trew
Director: Matt Sav
Stills photographer: Finlay Mackay
Producer: Anouk Ratnawibhushana
Production Manager: Alex Nell
DOP: Lewis Potts
Casting & Locations: Megan Carpenter
Post Audio: Envelope Audio
Sound Design & Engineering: Ned Beckley
Keep up to date with the latest in media and marketing
Got a tip?
Matthew is the editorial assistant at Mumbrella. He joined the company at the end of September 2023.
Linkedin
Have your say