FoxP2’s ’16 Days of Light’ campaign shortlisted for a Glass Lion – for Change

FoxP2’s ’16 Days of Light’ campaign for 1^st for Women has been shortlisted for a Glass Lion for Change, an award bestowed by judges at the Cannes International Festival of Creativity to recognise work that implicitly or explicitly addresses issues of gender inequality or prejudice.

“This year, only 20 entries made the finalist shortlist, effectively putting FoxP2 in the spotlight among some pretty notable company,” said FoxP2 GM, Lynda Fiebiger.

She explained the campaign was created when the innovative insurer briefed FoxP2 to use South Africa’s annual 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence to highlight that a woman in the country is murdered every three hours.

“I’m exceptionally proud of the fact that we immediately responded by assembling an all-women team to handle the creative concept, a decision taken in the moment that just felt so right,” she said. “We went on to brief a 100% female owned production house, which used an all-women crew to shoot the campaign.

“To bring the campaign to life, we travelled across the country to visit a different location of femicide each night to project moving tributes written in light on objects germane to the murder and tell the stories that had been left behind.

“The content we created at each site was then shared on social media. This directed traffic to a platform connecting victims with professional help from legal advice to safe houses.

“It was a tough job – producing a story every day for 16 days. But there was never any desire to pull out or pull back. I am so very proud of these powerful women and that their commitment, professionalism and creative take on the world has been recognised with this achievement,” Fiebiger said.

The hauntingly beautiful and provocative campaign had considerable impact. Metrics-wise, reach topped 41,5-million, 4 400 hours of video was watched, visits to the www.for-women.co.za platform increased 2 000% and pledges of help increased 456%.

South Africa’s creative community awarded it one of only three Grand Prix in Africa’s leading advertising competition, the Loerie Awards, in 2020. This performance was responsible for 1st for Women’s debut on the Loerie Awards’ Overall Ranking by Brand list – and within the top 10 – and contributed to FoxP2 being ranked as South Africa’s most creative agency on the medium-sized agency list for the second year in a row. Internationally, the campaign was recognised by the 2020/2021 Clio Awards, which awarded it a Bronze in the Out-of-Home Ambient category.

FoxP2 continues to live up to its Number 1 ranking for effective creativity in the 2019/2020 Scopen report with an impressive performance in the 2020/2021 Marketing Achievement Awards, including a first place in the Excellence in Brand Positioning category for FNB, a Number 1 position as the most creative mid-sized agency on the 2020 Loeries Official Rankings and wins at the 2020 Creative Circle Ads of the Year.