Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) commissioned us to deliver the second phase of its #IsThisOk? campaign - initially launched by Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester in 2021 - to challenge the attitudes and behaviours that perpetuate gender-based abuse and violence against women and girls, in all its forms.

This was a campaign we were passionate about after the success of our recent Travel Safe campaign, alongside Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), that helped female passengers stay safe on public transport in the region.

At the outset of the partnership, our Strategy team carried out extensive engagement with 65 stakeholder groups across Greater Manchester, including Greater Manchester Police and the NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board, as well as those with lived experience of domestic abuse.

During this engagement, coercive and controlling behaviour emerged as a consistent theme running through almost every domestic abuse case, with nearly 300 incidents of coercive control reported each month in Greater Manchester.

Following this in-depth insight, targeting coercive and controlling behaviours became the basis for our multi-channel campaign, eventually viewed by millions, that touched each department across our Liverpool and Manchester studios.

We developed the latest phase of #IsThisOk?, entitled It’s not a game, boy, to increase understanding of coercive control, demonstrating how behaviours such as the below can develop gradually over time:

· Isolation

· Monitoring movements

· Controlling appearance

· Restricting finances

· Gaslighting

· Belittling

We visualised this through a symbolic red control icon and other recognisable video game prompts to reach our target audience of 18-34-year-old men, who our insight identified as most likely to perpetrate these behaviours.

Our hard-hitting hero video, featuring local actors, depicted a steady loss of autonomy for our victim. Scenarios were drawn from lived-experience accounts, ensuring an authentic narrative, while the entire production was concepted, written, produced and edited by our in-house Creative team.

We also produced accompanying social, digital and out-of-home assets, displayed in prominent locations across Greater Manchester, such as train stations, bus terminals and on public transport, to raise awareness of It’s not a game, boy.

The campaign launched with a major press event hosted by Mayor Andy Burnham and was supported by a two-metre game-console installation specifically designed by our Creatives to display the impactful hero video. The game console went on tour across Greater Manchester, amplifying visibility and creating discussion, while our partnership with LADbible achieved over 76,000 page views, with 72% of viewers in our primary demographic of men aged between 18-34.

Crucially, partner services reported an increase in website traffic as a direct result of the campaign. Independent Choices, who run Manchester’s domestic abuse helpline, reported over 3,500 website visits during the campaign period, a 70% increase in traffic compared to the previous period, while the relationship service aimed at perpetrators, TLC: Talk, Listen, Change, received an additional 160 visits to their behaviour-change page compared to the previous year, with around half arriving via the #IsThisOk? website.

It’s not a game, boy is also being used as an educational resource at the University of Manchester, where students analyse and discuss the behaviours depicted in our hero video.

“#IsThisOK? has been one of the most important and impactful campaigns that we have run in Greater Manchester. Too many women feel trapped and live in fear. That cannot be right. We have tolerated it for too long. I hope #IsThisOK? has started to shift that balance.”

“#IsThisOK? will make a real difference to individuals across Greater Manchester and the North West. I am incredibly proud of our entire team for creating and executing a powerful campaign about an important subject. Without doubt, #IsThisOk? is one of the most significant campaigns we have ever worked on.”