ABOUT

The Client
UrSafe is a personal security application developed in Silicone Valley by a team of experts with healthcare, military, policy, and public safety backgrounds. Featuring advanced technology and groundbreaking capabilities, it is the world’s first hands-free, voice-activated personal safety app and is fully synchronised with emergency services in more than 240 countries. Launched in December 2019, UrSafe helps users protect themselves and prevent high-risk situations, be it online-dating and ride-share apps or emergencies related to home invasions, street assaults and extreme weather.

Brief and Target Market
UrSafe partnered with Sherlock Communications in February 2020 with the objective of establishing and promoting a credible brand profile across seven Latin American countries: Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Dominican Republic. As well as heightened recognition, the client hoped to build key relationships with media, position its spokespeople as go-to experts in the field of tech-led personal safety, and ultimately increase the number of downloads of the app across the selected markets.

UrSafe’s primary target audience is women under threat of domestic violence, but the market opportunity also includes growing industries such as ride-sharing and online-dating as well as traditional at-risk sectors such as women working in real estate, college students, and the military. With UrSafe keen to build alliances with stakeholders, a secondary target market also included the likes of local governments, municipalities, mobile network operators, and local law enforcement offices.

The Challenges
Launching across seven Latin American countries simultaneously produced a few challenges, most notably in terms of language. For example, there was no Portuguese version of the app so some Brazilian journalists immediately dismissed the content. Similarly, neither of the two UrSafe spokespeople could speak Spanish, making interview opportunities more difficult to arrange. There was also a lack of statistical knowledge among the spokespeople, so we would need to train them on the technicalities as well as relevant numbers that could benefit UrSafe’s reputation.

In Guatemala, media suggested the population do not trust the police and it could reflect negatively on the app since it connects directly to the emergency services. Needs more here…

Preparation & Planning
We conducted thorough research into the security situation in each of the countries, analysing the audience, the political-legal environment, and the strengths and opportunities of local police authorities. Assessing those findings, we started the campaign concentrating on the Latin American countries with the highest rates of gender violence and citizen insecurity, namely Mexico, Honduras, Colombia, Brazil and El Salvador. We would gradually cover the rest by rotating the coverage every month or two to maximise content.

In order to create the most relevant content and place it in Tier One media, as well as building alliances with stakeholders, we wanted to implement an umbrella strategy that focused on three key issues: education, loyalty, and brand positioning.

First, we sought to educate the target audience on the importance of raising their voice for equality and personal safety without distinction of race, religion, or nationality. We wanted to pay specific attention to gender violence, so we created data-led content focused on this issue and explained how technology can help victims. We launched the campaign on International Women's Day and focused on giving a voice to victims, as well as families of victims affected by domestic abuse.

During our research, we discovered many women do not denounce because they are prevented from leaving home or fear being overheard by abusive partners. In these cases, UrSafe offers a solution as it can instantly connect victims to law enforcement or family while video streaming features can be empowering. We would highlight this while also trying to prompt a change of behaviour among abusers by stressing new technology is making it more difficult to cover up violence. Focusing specifically on Dominican Republic and Guatemala, where impunity is more commonplace, we also wanted to demonstrate that UrSafe can help obtain evidence for justice authorities.

In order to showcase loyalty while strengthening brand positioning, we were keen to provide real life examples of how the app is making the world a better and safer place for everyone. We sought to create positive stories in the media by relaying testimonials from local community members, while also positioning the brand as a key source of information.

Another action in the pipeline is to highlight the success story of Palmira in Colombia. One of the most dangerous cities in the world, Palmira’s city council signed a deal with UrSafe to temporarily provide the app for free to its citizens and police force. After a predetermined period of time, the results will be analysed to better understand the potential of the app and how it can help others around the world. The campaign is on hold and will be resumed in August.

The Creative Execution
The COVID-19 lockdown prompted many changes to our campaign plans, but of much greater concern is that it prompted a global increase in domestic violence. We wanted to make clear UrSafe’s commitment to users during this period so supported the client’s decision to temporarily make the app free worldwide. This not only showed the brand’s human side, but also made available the app’s advanced features, which include tools to prevent burglaries and provide medical assistance related to heart attacks and depression.

In order to get around the fact UrSafe spokespersons speak neither Spanish nor Portuguese, we created media banks of pre-approved quotes from Anthony Oyogoa, the CEO and co-founder of UrSafe. These could be shared quickly with the media should a news-jacking opportunity arise.

We also proceeded to craft issue-based stories addressing country-specific problems based on the key messages the client wanted to “own”. This messaging included that technology seeks to ensure women’s safety, that in reaction to the rise of domestic violence in quarantined households the app is now free to download worldwide, and that UrSafe can be used as evidence by authorities seeking to avoid abusers escaping charges.

Launching on International Women’s Day, we included in our releases localised statistics regarding gender-based violence and gathered from sources such as the World Health Organisation. We found for example that data from the Gender Equality Observatory for Latin America and the Caribbean showed Honduras to be the world’s second-most dangerous country to be a woman, with a rate of 5.1 femicides per 100,000 women. Likewise, a report by Legal Magazine found more than 70 women in Colombia had been murdered and more than 8,000 had been victims of interpersonal, intra-family violence and sexual crimes between January 1, 2020 and XXXXXXX.

By adapting the general content of the releases to include local data, we were able to generate greater impact and increase local press interest in the client.

The Results
Although the campaign remains in its early stages and was forced to suspend some elements because of the pandemic, we have achieved some impressive results. We developed, translated, targeted, and distributed press packs and conducted full media follow-ups with national, business and technology journalists. This helped us to quickly position UrSafe in Latin American media as a key source of information related to domestic violence and security solutions.

During the first three months of working together, we coordinated seven interviews and secured more than 160 pieces of coverage across all the targeted countries, reaching an online readership of more than 110 million.

In Central America, the client appeared more than 50 times in regional press including, among others, Proceso Digital, one of the most important newspapers in Honduras with a monthly reach of half a million unique views, and Revista Estrategia & Negocios, which is based in El Salvador but has a presence in all seven Central American countries as well as the Dominican Republic and boasts 1.2 million unique monthly views. UrSafe also appeared in DR’s second-most important newspaper El Día, which has a circulation of more than half a million daily subscriptions, and in Guatemala’s respected daily El Periódico.

In Mexico, we appeared in all of the country’s most important media and coordinated an interview with Bárbara Blanco for Grupo Imagen Multimedia. This interview was syndicated across several of the group’s media channels, including TV, radio, the Imagen Radio website, and El Financiero Web, as well as in print 85K.

In Colombia, La República, the most important economic, business and financial newspaper published stories in its printed version (210K), web (3.5M) and on its social Networks about the App on International Women's Day and about the importance of technology in isolation due the COVID-19 pandemic. Between both press releases we achieved an impressive number of 57 impacts in the Colombian media.

In Brazil, UrSafe content was also well received, important media such as, Diário de Petropolis, MTI Tecnologia and Revista Afrodite included it in their agenda of content on International Women’s Day: technology for your safety.

As a result of our campaign (and with no paid advertising or promotions), UrSafe saw an immediate and sustained spike in downloads throughout Latin America and has grown a large active user-base meaning, more importantly, that a whole new generation of Latin American women can now feel safer.

The press interest and coverage from the campaign has also served to create a relationship of trust between UrSafe and local governments, especially municipalities, allowing UrSafe to arrange meetings and set up pilot projects with mayors and local law enforcement bodies, such as in Palmira and Cali (in process).

In Palmira, alongside the efforts of the mayor and the Secretary of Security, UrSafe contributed to a