Media giant LADBible has partnered with the Mayor of London and creative agency Ogilvy to amplify the recent ‘Say Maaate to a Mate’ campaign and help shape the conversation surrounding sexual harassment.

Led by a powerful interactive film which allows the viewer to step in and call out sexism and misogyny when they see it, ‘Say Maaate to a Mate’ is the Mayor of London’s latest awareness push that looks to empower men to call out their friends’ inappropriate behaviours.

Following on from the Mayor of London and Ogilvy’s previous collaboration, ‘Have a Word’, released in March last year, this latest instalment will now benefit from the significant audience amplification that a promotional push across the LADBible portfolio can offer.

Estimated to reach around two-thirds of under 34 year-olds in the UK, this campaign had managed to reach 6 million people across its channels alone by the start of this week – even before the collaboration had officially been announced.

Lads, lads, lads

LADBible’s unparalleled ability to reach the vast majority of Brits under the age of 34 is also crucial in helping proliferate the campaign’s key themes and messages. The need for powerful awareness drives such as these is clearly underlined by LADBible’s own research, carried out by its youth consumer research panel LADnation.

Having surveyed over 2,000 of its 55,000 strong participant base, LAD Bible found that a staggering 82% of women have experienced casual sexism, in comparison to only 17% of men. All of those surveyed fell within the 18-34 year-old demographic.

Speaking to Marketing Beat, LADBible’s director of marketing and communications, Lindsay Turner admits that the platform’s monthly reach of a billion people “comes with a responsibility”.

She recognises that the media giant has “a role in seeing how people see the world”, and using its platform to “get behind causes that [its] audience feels strongly about”, adding that LADBible’s ability to leverage its significant social impact can help enact tangible, positive change.

“Misogyny and male violence against women are key areas we believe we can use our voice in to create positive change. We also support our audience on subjects like mental health, the cost of living and how to manage their finances.”

One of the key goals of the Maaate campaign is to empower men themselves to call out and challenge transgressions made by other men, particularly their friends and acquaintances. In addition to its extensive reach, the LADBible user base is also key to achieving this aim, as it is predominantly male, standing at close to a 60/40 split.

Even more impressively, Turner reveals that the male/female audience divide stands at 75/25 across the wider SPORTBible platform. The potential for awareness offered by this targeted, male-dominated audience makes the capacity for boosting impact crystal clear.

A bespoke online hub has also been set up on the LADBible website offering users a range of educational content to help them learn more about sexual harassment and misogyny and how they can call them out.

Comedian Romesh Ranganathan – as well as content creators Luke Vernon and Kamilla Rose – feature throughout LADBible’s coverage of the campaign, engaging fans and helping to break the ice around what is a taboo subject for many, in the hopes of inspiring frank and open conversations.

Turner points to casual conversation as a key driver for the campaign, inspired primarily by Ogilvy’s behavioural insight.

“The original insight from Ogilvy showed that to truly drive behavioural change, peer-to-peer conversation was critical. That is what we have been able to deliver through our partnership, bringing the topic to life in an authentic and conversational way.

“By using relatable personalities in our content, leading the conversations in a way that just feels how you would chat to a friend, we have been able to provide content on the topic that connects with our audience.”

Subscribe to Marketing Beat for free

Sign up here to get the latest marketing news sent straight to your inbox each morning

LADBible’s Honesty Box

A crucial part of LADBible’s amplification of the ‘Maaate’ campaign will be its new ‘Honesty Box’ format, which features none other than London Mayor Sadiq Khan in its first episode answering random pre-submitted questions out of an ‘honesty box’.

When asked how he intends to improve women’s safety across the capital, Khan points to the need for an increased police presence, a more efficient justice system and more educational campaigns like ‘Have a Word’ and ‘Say Maate to a Mate’ in order to tackle the problem at the source.

For some, however, ‘Maaate’ does not go far enough in challenging sexism and misogyny, and has garnered somewhat of a mixed reaction among the wider public and women’s right organisations.

Addressing these concerns, Turner says that one of the campaign’s main aims was always to create debate, giving the issue greater visibility. “We always knew the campaign would create conversation and get people talking, and we have seen just that. We wanted to ensure the message was relatable and digestible for our audience.”

On a more tangible note,Turner highlights how the debate has been visible across the comments on LADBible content relating to the campaign.

“Our content has had a huge amount of engagement, with the very premise of the Maaate campaign taking place in the comment section with some of the audience calling out others for their sexist remarks.

“With our content we wanted to look at how to call out your friends if you hear them making sexist comments – we were very focused on this subject and are really pleased with how it has performed and the conversations it has created.”

The amplification that this campaign will receive through its partnership with LADBible can only be positive, while the educational value will be vital in guiding future generations away from outdated, toxic attitudes.

Whatever side of the debate you may fall on in regards to the controversial Maaate campaign, one thing is certain – it has created widespread debate about men’s behaviour and continues to shine a much-needed spotlight on the problematic issue of sexual harassment and misogyny being passed off as ‘banter’.