What's It Going To Take
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''What's it going to take?'' is a British print and
poster A poster is a large sheet that is placed either on a public space to promote something or on a wall as decoration. Typically, posters include both typography, textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or w ...
campaign launched in 2007 by
Women's Aid Women's Aid Federation of England, commonly called Women's Aid within England, is one of a group of charities across the United Kingdom. There are four main Women's Aid Federations, 3 for each of the countries of the United Kingdom, and one for t ...
to boost awareness of
domestic violence Domestic violence is violence that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes r ...
against women in the United Kingdom. The campaign, handled by
advertising agency An advertising agency, often referred to as a creative agency or an ad agency, is a business dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion and marketing for its clients. An ad agency is generall ...
Grey London Grey Group is a global advertising and marketing agency with headquarters in New York City, and 432 offices in 96 countries, operating in 154 cities. It is organized into four geographical units: North America; Europe, Middle East and Africa, Asi ...
, comprised photographs of nine female celebrities made-up to appear as though they were the victims of domestic abuse. The campaign received substantial media attention, with commentary appearing in ''
The Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the highest circulation of paid newspapers in the UK. Its sister paper ''The Mail on Sunday'' was launch ...
'', ''
This Morning This Morning may refer to: * ''This Morning'' (TV programme), a British daytime television programme * ''This Morning'' (radio program), a Canadian radio show which aired from 1997 to 2002 * ''CBS This Morning'', an American morning show, succes ...
'', and ''
Marie Claire ''Marie Claire'' (stylized in all lowercase; ) is a French international monthly magazine first published in France in 1937. Since then various editions are published in many countries and languages. The feature editions focus on women aro ...
'', among others. The ''What's it going to take?'' campaign went on to win a number of honours within the advertising industry, including prizes at the 2008 Creative Circle Awards and the Aerial Awards.


Background

Women's Aid Women's Aid Federation of England, commonly called Women's Aid within England, is one of a group of charities across the United Kingdom. There are four main Women's Aid Federations, 3 for each of the countries of the United Kingdom, and one for t ...
was established in 1974 as an umbrella organisation for several
feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
charities aiming to end
domestic violence Domestic violence is violence that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes r ...
against women and children, including
molestation Sexual abuse or sex abuse is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using physical force, or by taking advantage of another. It often consists of a persistent pattern of sexual assaults. The offender is r ...
,
rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...
, and
sexual harassment Sexual harassment is a type of harassment based on the sex or gender of a victim. It can involve offensive sexist or sexual behavior, verbal or physical actions, up to bribery, coercion, and assault. Harassment may be explicit or implicit, wit ...
. For the next thirty years, the organisation worked with a number of advertising agencies to promote its cause, including
Ogilvy & Mather Ogilvy is a New York City-based British advertising, marketing, and public relations agency. It was founded in 1850 by Edmund Mather as a London-based agency. In 1964, the firm became known as Ogilvy & Mather after merging with a New York City a ...
,
McCann Erickson McCann, formerly McCann Erickson, is an American global advertising agency network, with offices in over 120 countries. McCann is part of McCann Worldgroup, along with several other agencies, including direct digital marketing agency MRM//McC ...
, and Mediaedge:cia. However, despite numerous publicity campaigns over the years, by 2005 the charity's own research suggested that less than 16% of the public were aware of the existence of Women's Aid. Through a personal relationship between a pair of employees at the two organisations, Women's Aid were taken on as a
pro-bono ( English: 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. The term traditionally referred to provision of legal services by legal professionals for people who a ...
client by agency
Grey London Grey Group is a global advertising and marketing agency with headquarters in New York City, and 432 offices in 96 countries, operating in 154 cities. It is organized into four geographical units: North America; Europe, Middle East and Africa, Asi ...
in 2005.Pro Bono Work: Agency Viewpoint - Grey London (Contract with Women's aid)
, ''
Marketing Week ''Marketing Week'' is a website focused on the marketing industry, based in London, that grew out of what was a weekly, and latterly monthly, print magazine. History and profile ''Marketing Week'' was launched in March 1978. Its co-founders were ...
'', 12 March 2009. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
The first product of this new collaboration was the 2006 ''
Valentine's Day Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring a Christian martyrs, martyr named Saint Valentine, Valentine, and ...
'' campaign. With a budget of £500, Grey London made strategic purchases of media space in newspapers and radio with a reach of about 2% of the UK population. Through an effective
public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...
campaign, this exposure was leveraged to the point where 52% of British adults saw the advertisements at least once. The campaign went on to win a number of awards in the advertising community, including an
EFFIE Award Effie is a feminine given name, sometimes a short form (hypocorism) of Efthymia (Greek: Ευθυμία), Eftychia (Greek: Ευτυχία), or Euphemia (Greek: Ευφημία). Notable people with the name include: Women * Effie Bancroft (1840â ...
for Socially Responsible Advertising and an IPA Effectiveness Award.Sands, Marc;
IPA Effectiveness Awards 2006: Bronze Awards
, '' Campaign'', 3 November 2006. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
Moreover, the campaign was financially successful. Women's Aid recorded an increase of 25% in traffic to their website and a substantial increase in the number of donations following ''Valentine's Days run.


Campaign

Looking to build upon the success of ''Valentine's Day'', Grey London began planning for a new campaign to run in early 2007. The brief for the campaign was to bring the issue into public view by making use of celebrities. In an interview with ''Creativity'' magazine, a planner for the agency said: "The amount of column inches and time spent talking about celebrities is phenomenal and if we could own even a small piece of this it would help to raise awareness of domestic violence and also Women's Aid. In this gossip driven world if we thought a celebrity was suffering from a form of domestic abuse EVERYONE would be talking about it.""AdCritic: Print and Design", ''Creativity'', February 2007. From this came the idea of a series of portraits of female celebrities made-up to appear as though they had been the victims of abuse. Grey London recruited
fashion photographer Fashion photography is a genre of photography that portrays clothing and other fashion items. This sometimes includes haute couture garments. It typically consists of a fashion photographer taking pictures of a dressed model in a photographic stu ...
Rankin, known for his portraits of politicians and celebrities including
Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...
,
Kylie Minogue Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter, and actress. Frequently referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Princess of Pop", she has achieved recognition in both the music industry and fas ...
, and
Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...
, to conduct the shoot. The team approached a number of women to star in the campaign but, due to scheduling conflicts and the lack of a campaign budget, securing dates for the photo-shoot proved difficult. In all, nine female celebrities, across a wide range of ages and ethnicities, were chosen:
Honor Blackman Honor Blackman (22 August 1925 – 5 April 2020) was an English actress and singer, known for the roles of Cathy Gale in '' The Avengers''Aaker, Everett (2006). ''Encyclopedia of Early Television Crime Fighters''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. ...
, veteran actress and former
Bond girl A Bond girl is a character who is a love interest, female companion or (occasionally) an adversary of James Bond in a novel, film, or video game. Bond girls occasionally have names that are double entendres or sexual puns, such as Plenty O' ...
;
Fern Britton Fern M. Philomena Britton (born 17 July 1957) is an English television presenter and author. After beginning her career as a continuity announcer and a newsreader, she went on to co-present '' Breakfast Time'' in the 1980s and hosted the cookery ...
, presenter of daytime television show ''
This Morning This Morning may refer to: * ''This Morning'' (TV programme), a British daytime television programme * ''This Morning'' (radio program), a Canadian radio show which aired from 1997 to 2002 * ''CBS This Morning'', an American morning show, succes ...
'';
Fiona Bruce Fiona Elizabeth Bruce (born 25 April 1964) is a British journalist, newsreader and television presenter. She joined the BBC as a researcher for their current affairs programme ''Panorama'' in 1989, and became the first female newsreader on ' ...
, newsreader for BBC News;
Anne-Marie Duff Anne-Marie Duff (born 8 October 1970) is an English actress and narrator. She is best known for her BAFTA nominated television roles in '' Shameless'' and '' The Virgin Queen'', and her performance as Grace Williams in '' Bad Sisters'', for wh ...
, known for playing Fiona Gallagher on television drama '' Shameless'';
Anna Friel Anna Louise Friel (born 12 July 1976) is an English actress. She first achieved fame as Beth Jordache in the Channel 4 soap opera '' Brookside'' (1993–1995), later coming to international prominence with her role as Charlotte "Chuck" Charle ...
, known for playing Beth Jordache on the soap opera ''
Brookside Brookside may refer to: Geography Canada * Brookside, Edmonton * Brookside, Newfoundland and Labrador * Brookside, Nova Scotia United Kingdom * Brookside, Berkshire, England * Brookside, Telford, an area of Telford, England United States * Bro ...
'';
Jemma Kidd Jemma Madeleine Wellesley, Marchioness of Douro (née Kidd; born 20 September 1974), is a British make up artist, fashion model, and aristocrat. Career Lady Douro was a fashion model before becoming a make-up artist. In 2002, she attended the g ...
, former fashion model;
Miquita Oliver Miquita Billie Alexandra Oliver (born 25 April 1984) is a British television presenter and radio personality. With Simon Amstell, she co-hosted Channel 4's '' Popworld'' from 2001 to 2006. She went on to present on '' T4'' from 2006 to 2010, a ...
, television and radio personality;
Fay Ripley Fay Ripley (born 26 February 1966)Ripley, Fay (25 February 2011).Don't tell me you are going to get my followers up to 5,000 for my birthday tomorrow...I say my birthday tomorrow. Twitter. Retrieved 26 February 2011. is an English actress, telev ...
, known for playing Jenny Gifford in the comedy drama series ''
Cold Feet ''Cold Feet'' is a British comedy-drama television series produced by Granada Television for the ITV (TV network), ITV network. The series was created and principally written by Mike Bullen as a follow-up to his 1997 Comedy Premieres, Comedy ...
''; and
Kate Thornton Kate Thornton (born 7 February 1973) is an English journalist and broadcaster, best known as the first presenter of ''The X Factor'' (2004–2006) and for presenting daytime shows including '' Loose Women'' (2009–2011) and '' This Morning'' (2 ...
, journalist and television presenter."Celebrities act to end domestic violence" (press release),
Women's Aid Women's Aid Federation of England, commonly called Women's Aid within England, is one of a group of charities across the United Kingdom. There are four main Women's Aid Federations, 3 for each of the countries of the United Kingdom, and one for t ...
(2007).
The head and shoulder prosthetics were created by Nigel Booth, whose previous work includes prosthetic and make-up design on feature films such as ''
The English Patient ''The English Patient'' is a 1992 novel by Michael Ondaatje. The book follows four dissimilar people brought together at an Italian villa during the Italian Campaign (World War II), Italian Campaign of the Second World War. The four main charact ...
'' and ''
Blade II ''Blade II'' is a 2002 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Blade, directed by Guillermo del Toro and written by David S. Goyer. The sequel to ''Blade'' (1998), it is the second installment in the ''Blade'' franchise. T ...
''. The launch of the campaign on 1 February 2007 was celebrated with a launch party at
11 Downing Street 11 Downing Street in London, also known colloquially in the United Kingdom as Number 11, is the official residence of the Chancellor of the Exchequer (who traditionally also has the title of Second Lord of the Treasury). The residence, in Downi ...
hosted by then-
Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and the head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, t ...
Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. Previously, he was Chancellor of the Ex ...
and his wife
Sarah Sarah (born Sarai) is a biblical matriarch, prophet, and major figure in Abrahamic religions. While different Abrahamic faiths portray her differently, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all depict her character similarly, as that of a pious woma ...
. All appearances in magazines, newspapers, posters, on television and on radio were donated free of charge, as was the work of the featured celebrities, photographer, and the advertising agency. In all, the campaign received an estimated £30m of media exposure, including an eight-page feature in
women's magazine This is a list of women's magazines from around the world. These are magazines that have been published primarily for a readership of woman, women. Currently published *''10 Magazine (UK), 10 Magazine'' (UK – distributed worldwide) *''Al Jam ...
''
Marie Claire ''Marie Claire'' (stylized in all lowercase; ) is a French international monthly magazine first published in France in 1937. Since then various editions are published in many countries and languages. The feature editions focus on women aro ...
'' with an editorial written by
Marian Keyes Marian Keyes (born 10 September 1963) is an Irish author and radio presenter. She is principally known for her popular fiction. Keyes became known for her novels ''Watermelon'', '' Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married'', ''Rachel's Holiday'', ''Las ...
.


Reaction

There was mixed reception to the campaign. Some were impressed with the impact of the images, such as Noel Bussey of ''Campaign'' magazine, who said: "Many agencies pull out their best work when it's for charity, but rarely is it this effective, so well shot or so close to the brief. The images of battered female celebrities are bound to pick up coverage outside of the original media, and will not fail in raising awareness about the sickening problem of domestic violence." Others felt that the use of celebrities diminished the relevance of the message; Roisin Donnelly of
Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/con ...
commented: "In this print campaign, the celebrities, complete with injuries provided by the make-up artist, do get attention, but it seemed like it was a trick just to get attention, and was focused more on the celebrity and fake make-up rather than the central issue of domestic violence." Others were confused as to the point of the campaign;
Kira Cochrane Kira Cochrane ( ; born 1977) is a British journalist and novelist. She is the Head of Features at ''The Guardian,'' and worked previously as Head of Opinion. Cochrane is an advocate for women's rights, as well as an active participant in fourth ...
of ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' commented: "The images were arresting, but odd. I can't imagine celebrity women posing as other sorts of victim: presenting themselves as trafficked women to highlight forced prostitution, or as rape victims to underline the low conviction rate. And what were the images supposed to tell us: that domestic violence is bad? Painful? Causes serious bruising?" In all, the campaign proved a moderate success. Grey London reported that at the height of publicity for the campaign, more than 67% of the British public were aware of Women's Aid and its goals. The ''What's it going to take?'' campaign went on to win a number of awards from the advertising and charitable communities, including an Aerial Award for the radio component, a Silver Award at the 2008 Creative Circle Awards for the print component, and Women's Aid were honoured as the Campaigning Team of the Year at the Charity Times Gala Awards. As of 2010, Grey London continues to produce work for Women's Aid; later in 2007, they collaborated again with Rankin to produce a second series of posters for the ''Valentine's Day'' campaign. In 2009 they continued to make use of celebrity to promote domestic abuse awareness, releasing a promotion starring
Keira Knightley Keira Christina Knightley ( ; born 26 March 1985) is an English actress. Known for her work in independent films and Blockbuster (entertainment), blockbusters, particularly Historical drama, period dramas, she has received List of awards and no ...
, titled ''
Cut Cut or CUT may refer to: Common uses * The act of cutting, the separation of an object into two through acutely directed force ** A type of wound ** Cut (archaeology), a hole dug in the past ** Cut (clothing), the style or shape of a garment ** ...
''. The video, banned by the advertising standards agency
Clearcast Clearcast is a non-governmental organisation which pre-approves most British television advertising. It is originated on 1 January 2008, and took over the responsibilities of the Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre. Clearcast is now owned by ...
from appearing on British television,Shields, Rachel;
'Too violent' Knightley advert banned from TV
, ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', April 26, 2009. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
was only shown online, backed by a print campaign pointing people to the website.


External links


"Anna"
at ''The Advertising Forum''.
"Anne-Marie"
at ''The Advertising Forum''.
"Fay"
at ''The Advertising Forum''.

at the ITV website.
"Fiona"
at ''The Advertising Forum''.
"Honor"
at ''The Advertising Forum''.
"Kate"
at ''The Advertising Forum''.
"Jemma"
at ''The Advertising Forum''.
"Miquita"
at ''The Advertising Forum''.


References

{{reflist __NOTOC__ 2007 works 2007 in the United Kingdom Advertisements Advertising campaigns British advertising slogans Domestic violence 2007 quotations