We are delighted that the Ministry of Social Development and their partners Dentsu Creative have been awarded the honour of the 'Hardest Challenge" award at the 2025 Effies.
The "Better Everythings" campaign is a key part of the Change is Possible initiative - designed to encourage men in abusive relationships to seek help for their harmful behaviours..
Our foundational work amongst men in abusive relationships illustrated the powerful barriers of shame and denial to reaching out for help. But our insights around calling men in to a journey of change - rather than calling them out for their behaviours - plotted the course for how advertising could encourage men to seek help.
The creative agency, Dentsu, ran with these insights and created a campaign that celebrated the positive outcomes of change - without shying away from the difficult realities. As one of the men in our creative testing research observed:
Better Everythings might offer the hope and spark for change. Being able to reach out for support, and direction to change before any permanent harm is done is valuable in its own right. When you get nagged at, you withdraw into yourself and put up walls. and things don't get sorted. They fester until the next outburst.
But if you see something that make you reflect, or has a certain something that questions one's self it will open your own mind to make the choice to act on one's behaviour, and hopefully break down those internal walls for the better.
The campaign has given men the hope that change is indeed possible. To date, the campaign has driven over 30,000 people to the Change is Possible website.
For more information about our work on family violence, see our case studies.
Observing men's change journeys in challenging relationships
Exploring how those who are harming others can be supported to seek help for their behaviour