Christchurch Women's Refuge Campaign

The earthquakes that struck Christchurch in 2010 and 2011 did more than destroy roads, houses and workplaces. The resultant rise in unemployment, shared living arrangements and ongoing aftershock stress were also some of the factors behind a 30% increase in demand for the services of the Christchurch Women’s Refuge.

We thought we might be able to help. So we approached the refuge with a few ideas. The recently adopted tagline of “Rebuilding Families” proved to be a key focus for our work. With this flexible creative platform we were able to extend the proposition across a range of media, and give the impression billboards were broken, newspapers ripped and bathroom mirrors shattered.

Among other work we also negotiated some valuable social media space, provided volunteer uniform design and established a text donation line for people outside the region to support Christchurch. With some (and occasionally, much) arm-twisting we stretched the small media budget tenfold, allowing the Refuge to deliver an extremely high brand profile during a chaotic and challenging time.

The results were excellent. Despite a decrease in available collection areas (what with there still being no actual city to go into) returns from the 2011 annual appeal actually surpassed those of the previous year. And the Refuge received much-needed support for their crucial work.

Thanks must go to all those who went above and beyond to support the campaign. Leeann at Gooses T-Shirts, Simon at Big Picture media, Marty at Connexus, Mark at The Press and Samantha at Action Signs.