Liz Claiborne Inc. is proud of the fact that it was the first major corporation to officially speak out against domestic violence in 1991. But it's also cognizant that its
campaign against domestic abuse is now 11 years old and competes with a variety of other corporations that followed LCI's lead.
In 2001, Liz Claiborne turned to Patrice Tanaka & Co., the agency that has worked on the campaign (dubbed "Women's Work") since its inception. The goal was to update the
creative execution of the program so that it continued to be groundbreaking and newsworthy after more than a decade. "It's a major challenge when something is 11 years old," says
Maria Kalligeros, president and co-founder of PT&Co. "You've done a lot of brainstorming, and the challenge is to evolve the campaign and keep it current and fresh."
The PT&Co. team relied on solid research to uncover the audience the campaign should target in 2001. Team members knew they would focus on generating media coverage, but
they also wanted a clear consumer target. In past years, "Women's Work" had provided information for the parents of tweens; women who were sisters, friends or themselves victims
of abuse; and teens.
This time, research uncovered an important gap in knowledge among parents of teens: In a national survey LCI sponsored along with Washington, D.C.-based Empower Program (a
youth violence prevention organization), one in four teens reported they knew at least one student at their school who was hit by a person she was dating. But 81 percent of
parents surveyed didn't recognize teen dating violence as an issue. Two-thirds of the parents who had not discussed the issue with their daughters said they would if they had more
information, however.
LCI immediately jumped in to fill the information void.
Supporting the Cause
To provide parents with more information and offer reporters a powerful media hook, the company created a 16-page handbook titled "A Parent's Guide to Teen Dating violence: 10
Questions to Start the Conversation." The book was written in collaboration with third-party experts Dominic Cappello and Rosalind Wiseman, both nationally recognized for their
work in violence prevention. It was made available via an 800 number and on the Web site http://www.lizclaiborne.com/loveisnotabuse.
Another hook for reporters was charity shopping day, Liz Claiborne's eighth annual event during which 10 percent of each store's total day sales are donated to local domestic
violence service agencies.
Fundraising items like a sterling silver "Love is Not Abuse" necklace and an exclusive T-shirt, also were sold in all LCI stores during October, National Domestic Violence
Awareness Month.
The company signed on to sponsor V-Day, a February event whose goal is to stop abuse of women everywhere. The chairman of LCI was on stage at V-Day 2002 at Madison Square
Garden.
V-Day created a powerful media opportunity for LCI to tout the results of the survey to the media and tie it into Valentine's Day and the upcoming prom season.
PT&Co. also conducted a variety of media outreach activities.
Results
Kalligeros wishes she had had the budget to do post-campaign research to find out how the 2001 initiative moved the needle among parents. But absent that, she relied on
anecdotal results from the advocate community, media impressions and orders for the handbook to tell her that the campaign was a tremendous success.
There have been 20,000 requests for the Parent's Handbook through the 800 number, and many more downloads from the Web site.
Media impressions for 2001 totaled 129,912,803. Almost 1,600 news stories covered the campaign, and outlets like "The Ananda Lewis Show," Bloomberg Radio, Redbook, Rosie, YM
and others picked up the story.
"This campaign has helped to mainstream a very controversial issue, says Kalligeros. "The feedback we get from the advocate community on how useful and necessary the awareness
program is shows the corporation's commitment to this issue."
(Contact: Kalligeros, [email protected])
Campaign Delivers Corporate Responsibility Results
The long-running Women's Work initiative has effectively positioned Liz Claiborne as a socially responsible corporate leader. In 2001, the company was honored at the Los
Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women's 30th Anniversary Humanitarian Awards program.
Senior Execs Weigh In
The Women's Work campaign is ongoing; in 2002 LCI conducted a survey to gauge awareness of violence against women among the business community. According to the survey, nine
out of 10 senior executives believe domestic violence affects private and work lives of employees. But only 12 percent of those leaders say a corporation should play a role in
addressing the issue.
The Women's Work program was the recipient of a 2002 PR NEWS Platinum PR Award Honorable Mention for cause-related marketing.