Domestic abuse advertising faces a particular creative challenge: the audience most in need of reaching is often the hardest to reach, surrounded by shame, isolation, and the ever-present control of an abuser. The best campaigns have responded not just with powerful messaging, but with genuine creative ingenuity – finding unexpected routes into lives that conventional advertising simply cannot touch.

Women’s Aid – “He’s Coming Home”

Taking England’s most famous football anthem and changing a single word transforms a song of national celebration into something deeply sinister.

Refuge – “Don’t Cover It Up”

Working with make-up influencer Lauren Luke, this subverts the conventional format to make a devastating point.

Refuge – “Domestic Abuse is Getting Smarter”

Refuge again uses the subversion technique. The creative misdirection is brilliant.

AXA – “Three Words”

Rather than just raising awareness and hoping behaviour changes, AXA and Publicis Conseil went further – turning a commercial product into a practical lifeline for victims.

Women’s Aid – “Look at Me”

A bruised woman’s face stares out from a billboard in Canary Wharf. Facial recognition technology does the rest – creating one of the most imaginative and affecting uses of outdoor media.

Hope is a marketing, creative and branding agency for charities and other social-purpose organisations. The Ideas Lab examines what makes effective (or ineffective) communications for these causes, charities and social-impact businesses.