Women’s Aid ‘The Other Kick Off’: Time to take action

England fans might still be celebrating this week’s rip-roaring World Cup win against Croatia but there is a darker side to whenever the national team plays, and one that  Women’s Aid is aiming to highlight with a new campaign by Elvis.

“The Other Kick Off” follows Women’s Aid’s highly awarded 2022 World Cup campaign “He’s Coming Home”, which reimagined football’s most famous anthem as a warning, underpinned by research that shows domestic abuse incidents rise by 38% when England lose and by 26% even when they win.

With the 2026 World Cup spread across multiple North American time zones, the “What time is kick off?” question will be asked more often than ever. The time difference brings a darker consequence: England matches will finish at anti-social hours in the UK, meaning any post-match rise in domestic abuse is likely to occur later at night, when victims are most isolated and support services are least visible.

For this week’s game, Women’s Aid displayed an alternative kick-off time of 11:37pm. To anyone searching for the fixture time, it made little sense. Because 11:37pm wasn’t the football kick-off. It was The Other Kick Off, the estimated moment domestic abuse was most likely to surge after the match ended.

It marked the moment thousands of women fear most – one that never appears on any fixture list.

For the remaining England fixtures, large-scale out-of-home placements will display The Other Kick Off time using the visual language of football. The work deliberately contrasts the anticipation millions of fans feel as they await the opening whistle with the dread far too many women experience as the final whistle approaches. Audiences can scan a QR code to uncover the truth behind the time.

Out-of-home placements will run across city centres, transport hubs, fan zones and areas surrounding pubs – locations intrinsically linked to football culture. Media space was donated by The Outernet, Ocean Outdoor, JCDecaux, Open Media, Alight Media, Grazia and Metro.

Across search and social, a simple question will also become a gateway to the campaign’s central message. When people search for “What time is kickoff?” Women’s Aid will be surfacing unexpected answers that reveal the hidden reality behind the game, reaching audiences at the precise moment they’re actively seeking information.

Women’s Aid chief executive Farah Nazeer said: “When it comes to kick-off, we’re not talking about football, we’re talking about what happens after. For many women and children, the final whistle signals the beginning of something frightening.

“Domestic abuse is never caused by football, but we know incidents increase during major tournaments, whether England win, lose, or draw.

“Every major tournament brings excitement for millions of fans, but it also brings fear, anxiety and danger behind closed doors. We want people to check in on loved ones, trust their instincts if something feels wrong, and remind survivors that support is available; not only for themselves, but for loved ones they’re concerned about.”

Elvis chief creative officer Josh Green added: “The World Cup dominates everything from search and social to pub conversations. It defines the entire national mood really.

“For Women’s Aid, that created a rare moment when millions of people were all doing the same thing at the same time. We asked ourselves what every England fan would do before the match and built the campaign around intercepting that moment. Getting the wrong answer to a question you were already asking is a very different experience to being told something you didn’t want to hear.”

So, what is the consensus around the Decision Marketing office?

Well, can there be anything more depressing than a woman feeling fearful that her partner will abuse her or their kids, every time England play, win, lose or draw? It certainly puts things in perspective.

Women’s Aid does an amazing job and let’s hope this campaign does, too, as anything that raises awareness of this hideous issue has got to be supported.

Decision Marketing Adometer: A “game-changing” 10 out of 10