Rural Sexual Assault Awareness Campaign Wins Three International Awards
Marketing and PR campaign breaks through the silence around sexual violence
Survivor’s Hope Crisis Centre and marketing and public relations agency UpHouse won three awards for a campaign developed to increase awareness about sexual assault resources in Manitoba’s Interlake-Eastern Region. ‘Let’s Talk About SARAH’ received the Silver Shorty Impact Award in Public Service Announcement, the Silver Anthem Award in Local Awareness and the Bronze Anthem Award in Grassroots Efforts.
The Anthem Awards and Shorty Impact Awards are both international, mission-driven competitions focused on work that cultivates positive change. This year, the Anthem Awards had more than 2,300 submissions across 34 countries, including submissions from organizations such as T-Mobile, The Museum of Modern Art and MTV Entertainment Studios.
“We came to UpHouse after struggling to reach survivors in the communities we serve. There’s a general lack of education around sexual assault resources in rural areas, and because these communities are so tight-knit, survivors would often stay silent instead of reaching out for help,” said Coral Kendel, Executive Director at Survivor’s Hope Crisis Centre. “This campaign created by UpHouse was an incredible collaboration that was meaningful to so many. We really believe it made an impact in reducing the stigma experienced by sexual violence survivors.”
Leveraging the close-knit connections of rural communities, the three-phase campaign focused on increasing awareness and education around sexual assault, as well as providing information about how to become an ally to survivors. Referencing Survivor’s Hope’s Sexual Assault Recovery and Healing (SARAH) program, the campaign incorporated blunt and unbranded taglines like “Did you hear about SARAH?” and “Let’s talk about SARAH” to draw viewers in.
The creative was plastered across small towns in the form of posters, magnets, bus shelter ads and newspaper ads. Over the campaign period, there were over 900 interactions with the Survivor’s Hope website, and the non-profit saw a 200 per cent increase in files opened compared to last year.
About two weeks after the campaign ended, the federal government cut funding for the program, putting it at risk of shutting down. ‘Let’s Talk About SARAH’ created strong community awareness and media relationships, leading to $30,000 in crowdfunding before the government restored funding in another three-year contract.
“We strongly believe as communicators that we have a unique opportunity to put messages out into the world that need to be heard,” said Kathleen Phillips, UpHouse’s creative manager on the project. “This is why we do what we do. It’s incredibly fulfilling to see marketing and public relations create real change in a community.”
You can learn more about the campaign here.
