The National Sport of Kazakhstan

General Manager: Yuliya Tushina Executive Creative Director: Yevgeniy Kostylev Creative Group Head: Renata Muratova Creative Group Head: Rafael Imamniyazov Creative Group Head: Victor Yershov Art-director: Maxim Shilov Designer: Aigerim Tursunova Motion Designer: Alexandr Filatov Account Director: Anastassiya Ivanova

Kazakhstan has been engulfed by a wave of domestic violence. The police received more than 100 000 complaints about domestic violence during 2023 for the 5 million adult male population in Kazakhstan. This is three times more than in the last five years. Previously, this issue of domestic violence was mostly discussed by women. Traditionally, most men in Kazakhstan ignore the problem of domestic violence and prefer don’t speak about it. Men was only 12% of people who signed the petition for criminalizing domestic violence (yes, that wasn't considered a crime before).  Ruh Fighting (RFC) is the biggest MMA promotion in Kazakhstan, which organizes and broadcasts online tournaments for ultimate fights. In 2023, the company decided to declare its socially responsible mission: "We aim to develop the sport and influence society, our efforts are aimed at shaping a healthy and cohesive community».  In Kazakhstan, sports related to ultimate fights are very popular among men. 90% of the audience at the RFC platform are men.  Having a huge active male audience, the RFC felt responsible for their passivity related to domestic violence topic. Ruh Fighting could not stand aside and should make a response on the current major issue in Kazakhstan, and attract attention of the Government and society. Objectives:  Attract attention to the domestic violence problem  Create a conversation with male audience Change social behavior Increase brand social responsibility Taget audience The adult male population of Kazakhstan, aged 18 years and older. Insight Most men in Kazakhstan actually don't care about the problem of domestic violence and prefer don’t speak about it. But the thing they really care and love to talk about is ultimate fighting sports! Idea The National Sport of Kazakhstan: Moving Domestic Violence from the Kitchen to the Professional MMA-Ring We created an innovative approach to reach directly male audience to talk on the topic among those who are interested in ultimate fighting sports. In Kazakhstan the MMA fights are held between men and men only, and never between men and women. From childhood, traditions taught us that a man should not raise his hand against a woman. So we decided to announce a provocative first ever Men vs Women fight in a grand MMA ring of Ruh Fighting. Transforming domestic violence from a silent tragedy into a loud public dialogue. We held a large press-conference with the participants of the upcoming fight and launched announcements on RFC pages in social networks. Men in the comments got into arguments with those who saw nothing wrong with a fight. They called for unsubscribing from the RFC pages and creating a petition to cancel the fight, appealed to the government and the President. Bloggers, MMA stars, and mass media spoke out against the fight. On the announced date instead of the fight we launched a shocking broadcast containing real footage of domestic violence happened in different areas of Kazakhstan, showing a claim ‘100 000 fights annually’.   After the publication of the video broadcast, the comments changed to positive ones, with gratitude to the RFC for highlighting the problem. All the haters of the battle turned out to be our like-minded people, who support us and became co-authors of the campaign. RESULTS: We spoke directly with men only. Changed social behavior. And made them talk.  The unwanted "sport" sparked an uproar. Men, who previously didn't care, stood up for what truly matters.  90% of people engaged the campaign - men. Total reach - 3.3 million (among 5 million adult male population of the country).  Reactions - 135 390. The ‘fight' live broadcast views - 1 358 216.  Total views of video announcements and live broadcast - 4.8 million.  64% of those reached on Instagram were not subscribers to the RFC page. For the first time, conservative men joined in signing petitions for the enactment of the Law on the Criminalization of Domestic Violence. On February 28, 2024, the Law was passed by the Parliament of Kazakhstan.