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Congratulations to the Ministry of Justice for winning Campaign of the Month

The Ministry of Justice ran a campaign to raise awareness of the law change regarding upskirting and to encourage victims to report the crime.

Gina Martin and Lucy Frazer, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice

Summary

Gina Martin experienced upskirting at a festival and when she reported it to police, she found a gap in the law. She launched a campaign to change the law which was supported by MOJ, new legislation the Voyeurism (Offences) Act received Royal Assent in February 2019.

Gina and the MoJ worked collaboratively together to mobilise and empower campaigners, charities and stakeholders so to raise awareness of upskirting and encourage victims to report upskirting to the police.

Objective

This zero-cost digital and press campaign focused on:

  • Empowering people to understand their rights and report upskirting;
  • Showing government listening to ordinary people and taking decisive action to address injustice
    Audience.

Their primary audiences were:

  • Groups, including young women, with experience of or concerns about upskirting (an audience not traditionally engaged with government messaging);
  • Charities focused on supporting victims.

Strategy

Their strategy was to:

  • Use personal, relatable, authentic digital content to drive conversation and shares on digital channels – most notably Gina Martin and celebrity supporters;
  • Use empowering messaging with clear actions for people to take;
  • Position MoJ as a listening organisation.

This approach was based on insight, which showed:

  • Upskirting was happening prominently in particular places, e.g. the British Transport Police reported a 178% rise;
  • ‘What is upskirting?’ was the seventh highest ‘What is…’ query on Google in the UK, which highlighted a potential lack of understanding.

Implementation

The content created included:

A short, punchy celebrity video featuring Holly Willoughby, Dermot O’Leary, Laura Whitmore and other supporters (on a non-paid-for basis) with a strong call to action by a police officer to report upskirting:

Personal and empowering content from Gina Martin about her journey:

  • Highly-specific content for key stakeholders – eg transport authorities, internet safety organisations and campaigners; the MoJ worked collaboratively with partners to share messages via their channels;
  • Plain English GOV.UK page to encourage people to know their rights and be educated on what constitutes upskirting;

Setting the tone on the day of Royal Assent was key for the MoJ. They posted content from 00.01, and lined up celebrity supporters to share their content early in the morning to ensure maximum visibility on people’s feeds.

The digital activity was supported by an extensive press campaign with several announcements as the Bill progressed through Parliament. The media coverage was particularly successful and positive in tone largely due to the relationship between Minister Frazer and Gina Martin. This led to Gina regularly praising the work of the government and ministers in getting this law passed in her broadcast appearances.

Scoring

Campaign success was measured through:

  • Partner, influencer and wider public support and reaction;
  • Impact of MoJ content online including sentiment, impressions and engagements;
  • Tone of media coverage.

Key influencers/celebrities reached a non-government audience

MoJ content was shared and liked by:

  • High-profile women with large social media followings – including Stacey Dooley and Zoella;
  • High-profile men with large social media followings – including Dermot O’Leary;
  • Women’s and equality groups – including WAVE;
  • Transport authorities – including Transport for London;
  • Police forces and PCCs.

Content went viral

This campaign produced the MoJ’s highest engagement levels ever. Media reported that their celebrity video went viral.

12 posts achieved:

  • 2.2 million impressions;
  • 894k video views;
  • 172k engagements;
  • 9.1k likes;
  • 6.5k shares.

Creative content made a wider impact

  • The huge success of the MoJ’s celebrity video led to coverage in publications like Hello!, where MoJ doesn’t usually have a voice, and even brand digital channels like Miss Selfridge;
  • Most media including BBC News (17k+ interactions online) embedded the MoJ’s digital content and covered the law change positively, many embedded the plain English GOV.UK page in their articles, eg Closer magazine;
  • A LADbible article featured an exclusive video clip the MoJ recorded with Gina Martin explaining upskirting is not trivial (achieved 21k shares);
  • 91% of conversation online was positive/reinforced key MoJ messages

Making a difference

  • Gina Martin: “Proof that normal people and grassroots campaigning can make a real difference”.

Congratulations to the team behind the campaign

  • Hannah Young – Senior Digital Communications Manager, overall digital lead on campaign;
  • Freddie Isbister – Press Officer, overall press office lead on campaign;
  • Gina Martin and her supporters;
  • Members of the digital team including Amy Khan (Head of Digital Communications), Sheena Ariyapala (Senior Digital Communications Manager), Tonisha Shori (Digital Campaigner) and Helena Lynch (Digital Content Advisor)
    Members of the press office including Thomas Hewett (Chief Press Officer), Sebastian Walters (Senior Press Officer) Kirsty McKellar (Press Officer);
  • Tricia Wolford (Policy Lead) and the policy team;
  • Lissy Verrall, Shannon Kirby and Minister Frazer’s private office;
  • Samantha Bianco (Bill Lead) and the Bill team;
  • Design 102 team including Rachel Moser, Rosie Webb, Alastair Mogford, Elizabeth Popoola, Rachel Kirby, Willow Elias-Stagg and Konran Morrison

 

Channel website: https://gcs.civilservice.gov.uk/

Original article link: https://gcs.civilservice.gov.uk/news/congratulations-to-the-ministry-of-justice-for-winning-campaign-of-the-month/

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