“Red Light” App for Vodafone Has Aided More Than 103,000 Victims of Domestic Abuse

CANNES, France — (BUSINESS WIRE) — June 23, 2015 — Y&R’s Chief Global Creative Officer, Tony Granger, announced today that Y&R Team Red Istanbul (Y&R’s dedicated team for Vodafone) has been awarded the Grand Prix in the Media category for its “Red Light” app built for Vodafone. This is a first for Y&R Team Red Istanbul and for Turkey.

The app, which was registered at Cannes under an alias name in order to protect its identity from men, allows women to call for help just by shaking their smartphones. Instructions on how to find and use the app are deeply embedded in videos and content targeted for women, intentionally designed to be so gender-specific that men never reach the hidden message. More than 250,000 women have downloaded the app, which constitutes 24 percent of all women in Turkey who use smartphones. To date, it has been activated over 103,000 times.

Granger states: “This is a proud win for us. Our agency in Istanbul took on a tough social issue that, given the nature of domestic violence, demanded innovative thinking. They came up with an idea that was a perfect melding of creativity with connectivity. We are proud to win this Lion, and even prouder that we have been able to help women in danger of being abused.”

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