Launching Ring the Bell - A Report

"The younger generation is most active on social media, and will help in creating the right buzz to stop violence against women." - Asian Age, March 8 2013

This report illustrates some data from the March 8 2013 global launch of Ring the Bell (Bell Bajao), a multimedia entertainment-education campaign that asks for social intervention - especially on the part of men - to bring domestic violence to a halt.

In honour of International Women's Day 2013, Ring the Bell undertook a specific social media strategy in an attempt to galvanise at least 1 million committed men around the world and to garner at least 1 million promises to take concrete action to make the world safe for women and girls. Organisers launched a call to action in Dehli, India, Johannesburg, South Africa, New York (NY), United States (US), and Rio Di Janeiro, Brazil. Viral digital and physical media campaigns - via Facebook, Twitter [@bell_bajao (#ringthebell)], text messaging (SMS: BELL and send it to 56767), email (send pledge to ipromise@breakthrough.tv), etc. - are designed to call for pledges and promises and to provoke debates, discussions, and education. Men then upload their promises and concrete actions to the campaign website, where contributions are being gathered for accountability and advocacy.

The first pages of the report highlight state-specific activities conducted in India, where Ring the Bell (RTB) was originally launched. For example, in Karnataka, rallies, a film screening, and silent march drew more than 5,000 spectators. Other activities throughout the country have included all-female sports competitions/races, capacity-building at a women's college, and musical performances.

Media coverage of these activities led to 90-100 press impressions in 2 major languages. This report also includes social media data; for example, at the #ringthebell hashtag, there were 23,255,889 impressions on March 8 2013. During launch week, there were 1,485,410 total impressions at the campaign website. Both blogging about social issues related to RTB and the celebrity video promises (see an example, below) have also reportedly increased.

Click here for the 12-page report in PDF format.