Brief Explanation

Most Kiwis associate domestic violence with low socio-economic groups. But in reality it affects 1/3 women nationally and 1/4 of all high income homes. But since it happens behind closed doors, this reality remains hidden. We needed to get NZ talking about this reality. Idea: a unique partnership with NZ's leading home magazine designed to spark conversation. We created an article showcasing a new designer home and the seemingly regular family living there. The spread looked and read just like the magazine's regular content. The confronting twist? In each photo we placed subtle tell-tale signs that violence had been occurring.

Results and Effectiveness

With one unique partnership, in one magazine, we confronted over 1.1million Kiwis with the reality of where domestic violence actually occurs. That’s a 1/4 of the NZ population and 10 times the magazine’s regular readership. The magazine feature was reported on by both NZ’s national TV news channels The conversation reached over 500,000 NZers on social media within days of the magazine publishing Put simply, the 2015 June edition was “’the most talked about issue in the magazine’s 79 year history” – Jeremy Hansen – Editor.

Creative Execution

The idea centred on a partnership with HOME magazine which re-wrote the lines between advertising and editorial. Rather than make an ‘ad,’ or ’native’ content, we worked with HOME magazine’s editor to create genuine editorial content: our idea was laid out exactly as other home spreads in the magazine, shot by the magazine’s usual photographer, and was even featured in the magazine’s index and the front cover. Placed in their flagship Interiors Issue, this was designed to generate maximum surprise and therefore talkability. Following the magazine launch, PR and social media outreach fueled the conversation.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

We had to connect with two targets. 1. Middle to high income Kiwis in affluent areas – people who until now did not associate domestic violence with their neighbourhoods (and weren’t looking for it). 2. The wider NZ public. Because we needed to challenge people’s ideas on where the violence is occurring, we chose to demonstrate violence occurring in NZ’s premium home and lifestyle magazine – HOME. This connected us to over 100,000 middle to high income Kiwis but more importantly, provided us a credible platform to deliver an idea which could connect with the nation.