Real Estate Ads for Women’s Shelter
Issue 16 | September 2010
Agency
Draftfcb Partners Vienna
Creative Team
Chief Creative Officer: Bernd Fliesser; Executive Creative Director/Copywriter: Patrik Partl; Creative Director/Copywriter: Florian Schwab; Copywriter: Armin Winkler; Art Director: Daniel Senitschnig; Graphic Design: Josef Faustbeck, Benjamin Fillitz; Head of Digital: Marko Malle; Programming: Raphael Murr; Client Service Director: Fred Reiss
Date
23rd June – 18th April 2010
Background
Even in the most beautiful apartments, ugly things can happen and women can suffer from physical, emotional and sexual violence.
Wiener Frauenhäuser (Women’s Shelter Group, Vienna) helps abused women and their families, providing protection and shelter 24/7 at four different locations in the city. Here they can get advice in confidence and for free.
Idea
To draw attention to the fact that domestic violence is something even women in higher socio-economic categories can have to deal with, the idea was to use one of the largest real estate websites in Austria, www.standard.at and use the ads on the site as a platform for the message.
Properties were posted up at very low prices to help attract attention. When visitors enlarged the pictures they could see abused women within them. Copy, rather than extolling the virtues of the apartment, suggested that “Even in the most beautiful places, ugly things happen.”
A link guided anyone interested directly to the information and donations area of the Wiener Frauenhäuser’s website.
Results
250,000 Ais (ad impressions)
1,831 Clicks
Our Thoughts
Steve Henry once had part of an agency called Howell Henry Chaldecott Lury. Now he has a blog. He has been musing recently on whether the days of the art director and copywriter are done. The future’s “all going to be about product design and social media and content creation and actually there's no need for advertising at all,” he wrote recently. This, then, is exactly the sort of idea that would give him the shivers because it’s an idea about how people look at websites rather than an idea about a product or a brand. It wouldn’t have needed a writer or an art director, just someone thinking about creating an effect. Ironically, it is also the kind of idea Steve would love.