#BeatMe

This is the first ever anti-domestic violence campaign in the world that actually urges men to beat women. But at things that they are good at. The campaign featured powerful Pakistani women who have achieved great things challenging men to beat them at their game. One of the components of this powerful campaign was an activation piece which we reached our target with in a specific location. We started with a launch film - timed to release during the International Week of Elimination of Violence Against Women - which featured incredible Pakistani women challenging men to beat them at what they excelled at. What first looked like a submissive retreat, ended up being a powerful statement that Pakistani women are strong. This was followed by personal stories of the featured women about the struggles they had to go through and everything they achieved. Once the video went viral, we took the challenge on ground and set up two separate activations, both aimed at challenging men to beat women. One of the challenges was for men to beat the speed record of one of the women featured in the video. The results were astounding. We had begun to clearly change mindsets. The video was watched a remarkable 2.5 million times generating a total of 201 million impressions. It sparked a massive conversation in the country around the issue: celebrities, talk show hosts and parliamentarians - both men and women - took up the issue. We had made the topic of violence against women trend in Pakistan. The campaign was also picked up internationally, contributing to domestic pressure. The Government of Pakistan has worked in parallel to set up the first violence against women center to provide medical and legal assistance, and is implementing a new law that protects women. Eventually, UN Women took the bold step in not only changing Pakistani men’s perception about women but in inspiring a large number of Pakistani women to stand up to abuse. Women who now know they are unbeatable.