This Girl Can - Me Again
Making getting active feel like a radical act
In 2020, This Girl Can left no woman behind, confronting how society must change in order to accommodate all women being active.
We moved beyond just covering the emotional and practical barriers that can stop women from being active to address societal barriers that can prevent women from feeling like they can join in.
Periods, menopause, LGBTQ and disability inclusion – all necesssary conversations linked to sport, tacked with the characteristic honesty and irreverence of This Girl Can.
Our TV ad featured real women defying some of society’s most entrenched judgements, all with our infectious ‘don’t give a damn’ spirit. A mother breastfeeding before heading off to netball, a transgender climber confidently scaling a wall with friends, and a woman pulling up leggings over a visible tampon string before stretching out in yoga – a first for an ad not selling sanitary products.
Yep, that was a tampon string
The wider campaign told their stories and explored the societal barriers they busted through in greater depth. And on International Women's day, we released a rallying cry for 2020 online and (the following week) in a nationally run print ad, reaching women in the UK and beyond.
From TV to Content to OOH and Print
This Girl Can was back with a bang
In addition to receiving accolades from publications like Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Elle, Glamour, and Huffpost, the TV ad was retweeted by the UN Women's Account and celebrities ranging from Dina Asher Smith to Jameela Jaamil. It also picked up 5 Stars on David Reviews and was Ad of the Day on Campaign. And to top things off, we picked up a Wood Pencil at D&AD for our campaigns from 2020 and the years just before
And we got some pretty serious results
In March 2020, just seven weeks after launch, three in 10 women reported getting active as a result of seeing the campaign – a significant increase on the previous 12 months. Women increasingly see activity as part of their routine – 51% compared to 43% in 2016. And fewer women worry about the fear of judgement, down from 44% in March 2019 to 36% in March this year.
This project also won the One Show’s first ever Fusion Pencil. The Fusion Pencil is a special award for great work that includes underrepresented groups both behind the scenes and in the creative work itself. Peep some pretty proud faces in this case study.