2023 Gold Charity

Agency: House 337

Client: Women’s Aid

Campaign Name: He’s Coming Home

Campaign Overview

Women’s Aid, a charity dedicated to ending domestic abuse, was keen to tackle the UK’s domestic abuse crisis. The campaign needed to get people talking about the issue, so they visited the Women’s Aid website to find out how they could help.

Strategy

During the World Cup, as football fans unite in the hope of football ‘coming home’, a staggering number of women fear the same about their abusive partners.

The data is startling: in the UK a woman is killed every four days by her partner. And these alarming levels of abuse rise by 38% during major football events. In 2022, with the first winter World Cup on the horizon, the threat to women was magnified.

With no budget or media spend, the strategy was to create something so arresting it could slice through World Cup clamour, throwing the door wide open to reveal the evil terror unfolding behind it.

The decision was made to subvert the cultural tropes of England football support and repurpose them to galvanise public support for the real victims of the ‘beautiful game’.

Creativity

The idea was to repurpose the famous football song and change one word to give it a powerful new meaning.

The result was a haunting piece of film, unveiled on social during the tournament. On International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women it turned the lens on the insidious danger facing many women.

The film was set in a typical cul-de-sac where every house is adorned with red and white England flags. Everyone was clearly watching the football. The ad reveals the largest England flag of them all, draped across the entire home. In the centre are three words: ‘He’s Coming Home.’

Leaning into the visual language of football, the reworking of the flag allowed the team to infiltrate the football space and convey an important message in a recognisable visual language that didn’t alienate the audience. The visual spectacle retained its power, but with a chilling twist: for many women it’s a time of fear, not celebration.

Results

Taking things everyone recognises—the flag and phrase—and subverting them meant the campaign was seen and shared everywhere:

• 1 in 8 views about the England World Cup on TikTok was the campaign. The film was watched 23 million times on that platform alone.
• Despite no media spend, every major news outlet picked it up, calling it a “powerful domestic abuse campaign” - generating a combined reach of 222 million.
• 78.3% increase in direct traffic from organic social to the Women’s Aid website.
• 44.28% increase in traffic to the donate page.
• 17.1% increase in traffic to the information and support page.

It has solidified Women’s Aid as an authority on domestic abuse and football. The charity is now asked to comment when the issue appears in the news. It has also been invited to visit clubs to spread their message—providing opportunities for tangible change.

The Team

House 337 - Jo Moore, Executive Creative Director - Christopher Ringsell, Creative Director - Holly Fallows, Senior Creative House - Charlotte Watmough, Senior Creative - Georgina Murray, Head Of Strategy - Laura Sammarco - Abbey Gaunt, Senior Strategist - Paul Lynch Senior, Influencer Strategist -Katherine Thompson, Business Director - Marianne Roberts, Senior Account Director - Fernandes Poon, Account Manager - Tash Dean, Agency Senior Producer - Chelsea Chapman, Senior Project Manager, Aaron Pacey, Design Director - Victoria Fischer, Head Of Production - Melody Sylvester, Executive Producer

Contributors

King Lear, Absolute, The Corner Shop