Ad of The Year: This Girl Can

On the eve of the New Year the time has come for me to announce my Ad of The Year. This year the honours go to FCB Inferno's"This Girl Can" for Sports England. From the insight right through to the execution, this campaign takes the crown in the face of stiff competition from the likes of BBH and M&C Saatchi. So hats off to all those at FCB Inferno, I hope 2016 brings you more brilliant ideas!

Sports England’s #ThisGirlCan fitness campaign 

Figures show that there are 2 million fewer active women than men in the UK. Sports England designed this campaign to address this disparity and encourage more women of all different sizes, ages and abilities to participate in physical activity.

Why was it effective? 

The campaign’s 90-second ad has thus far garnered 23 million views on YouTube and Facebook alone. However, the campaign’s real success was its ability to truly affect the behaviour of its target audience. 

By enlarge, women have engaged positively with the campaign, and Sports England has noted a significant rise in female participation in physical activities over the past 6 months. The campaign had generated over 250,00 social media interactions and developed a social media community of nearly 300,000 users. Women across the country are also sharing their stories on the official website.

Why did it work so well? 

Research undertaken by Sports England showed that 75 per cent of females say they want to be more active but their ambitions have been stunted by a fear of judgement. They feared that they would be judged on appearance, ability or how they chose to spend time on themselves. The campaign was designed specifically to address these apprehensions and help women get back into exercise.

It is aimed at all females, therefore it uses 'real' women’ of all different shapes, sizes, and abilities to communicate this important message. Watching other women, to use one of the ad's taglines 'sweating like a pig, feeling like a fox', with all their jiggly bits on show, makes the ads both believable and relatable. 

The use of humorous taglines also off-sets the uncomfortable feeling one might get as a by-product of participation. By using one of the oldest tricks in the book, Sports England highlighted the supposed flaws before anyone else could e.g 'look at this horrible spot on my face'. Then by showing loads of women embracing these so called ‘imperfections’, re-enforced their normality thus reducing the anxiety surrounding them.

In recent times women have started to challenge misogynistic beliefs about women’s fitness. This can be seen by the recent backlash towards the “Are you beach body ready” campaign. This campaign is in step with this change in the discourse surrounding women’s fitness, which also aided in it being so well received. Instead of objectifying women, this campaign empowers them.

That being said, the most important reason for its success was the fact it was based on the premise of inclusion rather than exclusion. Sports England was able to engage all different kinds of women because they made these women the stars of the campaign!