When Michigan Women Forward (MWF) learned about the discovery of 11,341 unopened, untested rape kits in a Detroit storage unit, they were both horrified and outraged. The city lacked the funds to test all the kits and investigate all the cases—but the idea of these women waiting even longer for justice was unacceptable (some of the kits had been in storage for as long as 7 years).
MWF partnered with the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office and the Detroit Crime Commission to raise the funding necessary to test the kits, investigate each case and prosecute the offenders. But they needed a strong name for the initiative, and a brochure that would inspire both corporations and individuals to reach for their wallets.
When the creative team at Brogan researched rape kits, they discovered that each kit is stored in a nondescript white box and labeled with a bar code. The idea that something as devastating as a rape could be distilled into a bar code, like those on cans at the grocery store, struck a chord. So they created the traumatic story of one unnamed woman, replacing her name with a bar code throughout the narrative.
https://brogan.com/work/giving-a-voice-to-forgotten-victims-of-rape/
The name of the initiative became Enough SAID—Enough Sexual Assault In Detroit. The name reflected the consensus that the time for talk was over. It was time to act.
Why we love it
By telling the harrowing story represented by just one bar code on the cover, and then breaking the news that there were over 11,000 other such stories waiting for justice, the brochure communicated the staggering magnitude of the problem. Each of these women came forward and had a rape kit done—an act of bravery in itself—only to learn later it had languished in a storage unit for years.
Most importantly, we love the brochure because it did its job well. The initiative resulted in $10 million in public funding, $1.5 million in private donations, and the discovery of 765 rape suspects.
And we must admit, we also love that the brochure won Brogan & Partners our first Best of Show at the D Show Advertising Awards in 2015.
This is post #12 in our blog series, 17 wow-worthy social marketing campaigns.
