Vodafone (R) Red Light, a mobile phone app for women living in unsafe domestic situations, has won the Media Grand Prix award at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. The app allows a woman to call for help simply by shaking her phone, which triggers a text message with her exact location to three individuals identified at set-up.
Not only did Vodafone provide a means for rescue for women in danger, but in a culture where women are prevented from seeking help, Vodafone provided a means to keep the app secret long enough for women to take advantage of it.
Advertising information about the app was buried deeply in content for women, exposed at a point in an article, video or product where men would have “already stopped looking.” As of the date of the Cannes Lions Festival, more than 254,000 women had downloaded the app. That’s 24% of all women in Turkey with smart phones. The app had been activated 103,000 times.
Watch the video below to see how Vodafone Red Light works, and the clever plan for changing the app once the secret was revealed.
Vodafone gets our vote for badass brand. They took a chance to change the world. They executed with sheer brilliance.
