2023 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

Founded in 1990, La Maison grise welcomes, shelters, supports, and empowers women who have experienced domestic abuse, whether alone or with children, in order to help them regain control over
their lives.

Recognized for its innovative approach and the quality of its services, the organization helps hundreds of women and their children throughout Quebec. According to Statistics Canada, a quarter of the crimes committed against persons in Quebec are related to domestic violence. Women are predominantly the victims of this abuse, with 78% of cases reported. According to the helpline at SOS violence conjugale, an ally organization, the number of distress calls increased by 41% between 2021 and 2022. Moreover, in October 2022, the province witnessed 12 femicides linked to domestic violence in only three months, an extremely troubling and alarming situation.

In this context, La Maison grise hoped to launch a campaign/initiative with two goals in mind: to raise public awareness about the unsuspectingly high prevalence of hidden domestic violence around them, encourage people to be more alert/vigilant about it, and make La Maison grise known and renowned, and position it as a key resource for women affected by domestic violence. The challenge was to achieve all of this with a modest budget of less than $5,000.

Halloween is probably the only time of the year when curious passersby dare to look at their neighbourhood houses’ windows?at least those that are decorated?expecting to see horror scenes.

The campaign was deployed in three stages: First, the windows of twelve houses in Montreal, in areas where Halloween decorations are abundant, were “dressed” with scenes of domestic violence and adorned with an invitation to support abuse victims through La Maison grise. Aly citizens gravitating around the organization were approached to “lend” their windows for the cause. Then, a 60-second video introducing the initiative was released on La Maison grise’s various owned and social media platforms.

Partners and allied organizations were also leveraged to help amplify the initiative and boost its reach and influence. A PR push was then launched. The media pitch was based on recent statistics on the state of domestic violence in Quebec. A press release was issued on October 26, followed by a targeted approach to certain key media outlets (print and television).

The Fear Windows initiative helped raise awareness of La Maison grise at very little cost. Without any paid media investment, the campaign managed to collect more than 180 media mentions and more than 100 million impressions worldwide (according to the media monitoring tool, Meltwater).

Several influential local media outlets, both francophone and anglophone, covered the initiative. These included TVA/Salut Bonjour, CityNews, Global Québec, CTV, Le Devoir, and the Montreal Gazette. Beyond simply covering the advertising campaign, the articles highlighted the troubling pervasiveness of domestic violence, while showcasing resources for victims and their loved ones, specifically La Maison grise. Web traffic to the organization’s website more than quintupled during the campaign period.

Moreover, although it was not an objective of the campaign itself, the organization saw its donations increase by nearly 3,000% YOY for Q4. This was excellent timing for the organization, considering the upcoming opening of its new shelter in 2023, which is intended to help more victims of the scourge of
domestic violence.

Credits

Chief Creative Officer: Aaron Starkman
Chief Strategy Officer: Sean McDonald
Executive Creative Director: Xavier Blais
Art Director: Mathieu Lacombe, Preto Murara
Writer: Charles Côté
Strategist: Suzy Truong
Broadcast Producer: Annick d’Auteuil
Director: Mathieu Lacombe, Charles Côté
Offline Editor: Alijah Monckton
Online Editor: Etienne Bergeron
Director of Photography: Jean-François Sauvé
Audio House: Circonflex
Account Services: Gabrielle Bergeron
Screen printing : BangBang
Media amplification: Sara Lemmermeyer, Meredith Montgomery, Gabrielle Bergeron
Client Supervisor: Danielle Rouleau, Nathalie Lamarche