Marking the fifth anniversary of the inspirational and real ‘This Girl Can’ initiative, Sport England has gone beyond the emotional and practical barriers which women face to shine the spotlight on the related societal issues that put women off being active with a campaign spanning multi-media channels, influencers and a brand partnership with Sure.
Thus far this inspiring and successful campaign has encouraged 4 million women to get active since it launched in late 2014, but two-fifths of women in the UK still aren’t active.
Indeed, new research from the organisation shows that 63% of women who see slim, toned bodies on social media say this has a negative impact on them, while 24% who follow fitness influencers say they make them feel bad about themselves.
Indeed, according to a Sport England study, only 18% of women find mainstream and brand fitness influencers relatable. And yet is finds that there is still an appetite for more relatable content online with participants saying they would feel positive about women on social media posting about exercising without make-up, sweating and discussing how they overcame challenges to being active.
So, to tackle this issue, the sports body has extended its tried and tested creative formula through a fresh media approach to showcase the unfiltered reality that exercise is not an exclusive space for graceful athletes who never even seem to sweat.
Created by long term agency partner FCB Inferno, the new wave of work was teased socially on 13 January
Warming up for tomorrow#ThisGirlCan pic.twitter.com/OT1IycUVv7
— This Girl Can (@ThisGirlCanUK) January 13, 2020
before and avalanche of PR provided a launch boost to the flagship spot which debuted online on 14 January and on-air from 17 January.
The hero ‘Me Again’ ad presents a host of societal barriers that can prevent women from throwing on her sports gear – these range from breastfeeding children and menopause, to periods, menstrual cramps and LGBT+ and disability inclusion – and this campaign seeks to celebrate and empower women who push through their particular challenges.
One women is seen doing yoga to ease heavy menstrual cramps, while a mum-of-three is shown breastfeeding before handing her baby over to her partner to play netball.
Alongside this, a gym-going mother and daughter are seen using exercise to combat their symptoms of menopause and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.
A ketyaudio strand of the first campaign was Missy Elliott’s memorable ‘Get Ur Freak On’ track and the latest wave of work is accompanied by Toy Boy star and rapper Little Simz’s ‘Offence’: a track who’s lyrics reinforce that it is time women feel less judged and defined by society.
The spearhead spot, directed by Ali Kurr, is supported by out-of-home with a big social push that sees a series of online videos starring the women featured in the ad.
As well as the flagship film and supporting ads and content, Sport England has revamped its web platform which now features an improved activity finder: an online tool for women to find accessible ways of getting active in their own area.
Another fresh strand of the new work sees Sport England team up with Unilever-owned women’s deodorant Sure to both start a new fund and a limited-edition #ThisGirlCan deodorant.
The fund, which is also backed by the National Lottery, aims to help local communities to fund projects that encourage girls to get active and local organisations and community centres can bid for grants from between £300 to up to £10,000.
The deodorant, which is on sale in January, was designed by the This Girl Can team and aims to be a practical product which also helps women to become active.
“Once you create a movement, it is not yours alone to control,” said FCB Inferno CCO Owen Lee on the challenges the agency and client faced with the new work. “You have to listen carefully to the social conversation, respect it and shape your work accordingly. Almost immediately, the This Girl Can community was hugely active and it spawned much of our creative thinking.”
Sport England’s director of insight Lisa O’Keefe also admits to worrying about keeping the momentum going year-on-year: “The way through it is to stick to the research, so we let ourselves get carried away with the creative angle, that we in the room think is great. We go back to the basics and think what is happening to women today and ask why are they finding it difficult to be active.”
Comment:
A brilliant piece of creative and strategy (again) and it wasn’t uprising that it was trending on Twitter in its teaser phase or that it has attracted plenty of influencer support from famous women (from athletes and journalists to TV stars and radio presenters) across the UK.
Completely LOVE this advert & can relate to this on so many levels. I often work out with my daughter India & SO many times there are tears & indignities & bodily fluids & mucho swearing #ThisGirlCan https://t.co/hqbUSCdGLz
— Jo Whiley (@jowhiley) January 14, 2020
Love love love this and loveeee #ThisGirlCan https://t.co/NwXssUmZH4
— Dina Asher-Smith (@dinaashersmith) January 14, 2020
These ads always make me so happy. https://t.co/B2dWb1nA3m
— Caitlin Moran (@caitlinmoran) January 14, 2020
Here it is, the brand new @thisgirlcanuk advert. I'm proud to be here at the launch event and am once again inspired by the brilliant women featured. #ThisGirlCan https://t.co/gk0JtjUlcC
— Clare Balding (@clarebalding) January 14, 2020
But perhaps it is social media itself – particularly the unrealistic, often fake and regularly negative images of Instagram – which threaten #ThisGirlCan’s objectives and are themselves a barrier to organisation’s effort to close gender gap in exercise?
The launch phase of This Girl Can in 2014/15 sought to break the mould in terms of how real women were portrayed in and spoken about and to in sports advertising, while simultaneously tackling the gender gap in sport and physical activity.
It’s not simply another health led cause/charity initiative, but a brand in itself that is authentic and full of attitude and this new wave of work seeks to raise the bar even higher.
This 2020 work builds on from previous iterations of the authentic, in-your-face and inspiration #ThisGirlCan which launched in 2014 (see case study) and evolved through additional campaigns and initiatives in 2015 (see case study), 2017 (see case study) and 2018 (see case study) and also follows on from Sport England’s August 2019 ‘We Are Undefeatable’ (see case study) which is a TV led initiative created in collaboration with 15 charities that aims to inspire and support people with long-term illnesses by driving awareness of the positive benefits of physical activity (12 months ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games).
Links:
This Girl Can
https://www.youtube.com/user/thisgirlcanuk
https://www.facebook.com/pages/This-Girl-Can/1486200494975441?ref=profile
https://plus.google.com/106091288943299282651/videos
https://twitter.com/ThisGirlCanUK
#ThisGirlCan
http://instagram.com/thisgirlcanuk
Sport England
FCB Inferno
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