Wunderman Thompson UK’s ‘Not So Beautiful Game’ was widely credited as one of the most talked about campaigns of the 2018 World Cup. Now, it has been recognised with a Gold Entertainment for Sport Cannes Lion, a new category that celebrates creativity that taps into fan culture and leverages the power of sports.

In England and abroad, domestic violence spikes around the time of football, win or lose. Wunderman Thompson UK drove awareness of this for the National Centre for Domestic Violence by leveraging the key visual device that is the language of the World Cup: a nation’s flag. Powerfully reimagined as domestic violence injuries, flags were adapted for Japan, Switzerland, England, Belgium and Switzerland. Impactful media ran across digital, OOH and print, and was scheduled for when these national teams played.

Within hours the images went viral and made global news on more than 100 platforms in 18 countries, reaching an estimated 6 million people. The tweets received 45,000 shares and 35,000 comments. Crucially and tellingly, there was a 19.6% increase in calls for help.