THE ANTI-ABUSE SOUNDCHECK

Short List
TitleTHE ANTI-ABUSE SOUNDCHECK
BrandFOUNDATION FOR WOMEN
Product / ServiceFOUNDATION FOR WOMEN
CategoryA06. Events & Experiential (incl. stunts)
EntrantDENTSU PLUS Bangkok, THAILAND
Entrant Company DENTSU PLUS Bangkok, THAILAND
Advertising Agency DENTSU PLUS Bangkok, THAILAND
Production Company SONGMUE PRODUCTION Bangkok, THAILAND
Production Company 2 CINE DIGITAL SOUND Bangkok, THAILAND

Credits

Name Company Position
Ted Lim Dentsu Asia-Pacific Chief Creative Officer
Subun Khow Dentsu Plus Chief Creative Officer
Supparat Thepparat Dentsu Plus Creative Director
Nattagorn Thairattanasuwan Dentsu Plus Art Director
Supparat Thepparat Dentsu Plus Art Director
Pattarapong Lapjarupong Dentsu Plus Copywriter
Steve de Lange Copywriter
Subun Khow Dentsu Plus Copywriter
Prinkpraewa Aswapanyawongse Dentsu Plus Account Manager
Vorawit Prakornkaew Dentsu Plus Agency Producer
Norasit Sitivechvichit Dentsu360 Digital Business Director
Kittithat Tangsirikit Songmue Production Director
Supawat Matlueng Songmue Production Assistant Director
Sutthichai Luangamornlert Songmue Production Cinematographer
Phichitromrun Akkhatham Songmue Production Cinematographer
Dear Charungkhon Songmue Production Editor
Nutrupong Rungniwest Songmue Production Executive production producer
Pattarawee Mongkonrattanachai Songmue Production Production manager
Jakkrit Songjaroen Songmue Production Music score

The Campaign

Violence against women and children has been increasing steadily in Thailand. The statistics show that every hour, at least 3 women and children become victims of domestic violence. And due to the nature of the crime, it is often hard to track. Foundation For Women, Thailand came up with an effective way to tackle the problem – by getting people to monitor in their communities. A soundcheck is normally carried out in cinemas before movies are screened. We asked Major Cineplex - the most popular cinema chain in Thailand – for their cooperation as we transformed the routine soundcheck in their cinemas into “the voices from victims of violence” - projecting their anguish from all directions in 360 degree stereoscopic sound. Thus, we effectively communicated to audiences that violence is all around them. And that if they were to hear the sounds of violence, they should call the Foundation for Women for counselling or call Hotline Number 1300 to help the victim. Afterwards we have to implement this campaign to another medium, which is online by transforming the on ground experience to a video clip to gain more awareness to others who don’t get the experiences from the cinemas. The Anti Abuse Soundcheck’s message was heeded by many. The campaign went viral, generating a large amount of PR value and earned. The daily calls and website visits went up.

The Brief

We had to find a way to create the impact campaign with the limited budget. To do so, our idea was designed to ask for public cooperation in an instantly memorable and dramatic way. Utilizing the cinema as a medium to deliver an unexpected experience to our target audience, the impact is spanned up to become something bigger with the content power. The social experiment that not only get people to talk about in cinema, but also ask them to take actions against the problem.

Results

During the launch, "The Anti-Abuse Soundcheck" made the audience understand that all they had to do to tackle domestic violence is simply make a call to report. The campaign generated audience engagement and many were willing to take the necessary action and spread the message to the public. Moreover, this simple and impactful idea got the message across instantly and memorably. The campaign’s message was heeded by many. It went viral, generating 3.8 million Baht in PR value and earned media. Within the first month of screening, daily calls to Hotline 1300 increased from an average of 4 calls to 20, and visits to the FFW website increased significantly as a result. And due to the positive response in Bangkok, the campaign is being expanded to other key provinces. In parallel, it inspired others related-organizations to take action about Violence against women and children as well.

Execution

In the cinema, when targets went into the theater and were seated, the cinemas ads would run one by one till last spot. The light went off. Then, “the voices from victims of violence” - projecting their anguish in 360 degree stereoscopic sound. In doing so, we effectively communicated to audiences that violence is all around in real life, too. And that if they were to hear the sounds of violence, they should call the Foundation for Women or call 1300 to help the victim. Afterwards we have to implement this campaign to online medium, injecting more awareness to those who don’t get the experiences from the cinemas. The Anti Abuse Sound-check’s message was heeded by many. The campaign went viral, generating a large amount of PR value and earned. The daily calls and website visits went up.

The Situation

The Foundation for Women (FFW) is a non-governmental organization based in Bangkok, Thailand. FFW implements activities by applying human rights principles aiming at respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of individual women and female children. In 1986, we opened a women’s shelter for victims of domestic violence. With the limited of budget, we were tasked to create a campaign that would help raise publication’s awareness of violence against women and children, which has been increasing steadily in Thailand. The statistics show that every hour, at least 3 women and children become victims of domestic violence.

The Strategy

An act of domestic violence is often accompanied by yelling and screaming. These loud noises are usually heard by neighbors, which means an effective problem solution is for people to monitor the problem within their own communities. We picked the soundcheck period in the cinemas as our medium to give an unexpected experience to target audience. A soundcheck is normally carried out in cinemas before movies are screened. We asked Major Cineplex - the most popular cinema chain in Thailand – for their cooperation as we transformed the routine soundcheck into “the voices from victims of violence” - projecting their anguish in 360 degree stereoscopic sound. In doing so, we effectively communicated to audiences that violence is all around them in real life in a proper context that people is sensitive to what they were hearing which we expect them to act upon by calling the hotline or FFW.