This Girl Can is back with an updated campaign celebrating the inventive ways women have stayed active and fit activity into their lives during the pandemic, inspiring women to do the same through brilliant real-life stories.
Created by FCB Inferno and launched by Sport England in 2015, This Girl Can aims to close the gender gap around activity levels for men and women and is built around the insight that a fear of judgement – of not being good enough, of not looking the part, or of prioritising the wrong thing is the unifying barrier preventing women from being as active as men.
The refreshed advertising features women from the original campaign and some new faces and aims to inspire by showing them fitting activity into their own lives – in their own way, and in their own time. It includes Katy, 43, who founded ‘Blaze Trails’, a community of walking parents and children during lock down. Walking with her baby on her back and her toddler for company helped her cope with feelings of isolation in lockdown. There’s also Aneesa, a 43-year-old mother of two from South London, who lost her income at the beginning of lockdown so started attending HIIT and dance sessions over Zoom instead. She’s met an entire community of new women as a result.
Kate Dale, Campaign Lead for This Girl Can, said: “At the beginning of lockdown there was a sense there was a right way to do it. A feeling like we should all be starting new hobbies and getting very fit. But the reality for a lot of women is that we have more demands on our time, and more financial and mental wellbeing challenges.
“We’re back with This Girl Can celebrating the fact that there’s no right way to get active – there never was. Just like there’s no right way to do lockdown. We’re celebrating all the women getting active in the ways that work for them, no matter what life throws in their way. Saying it’s okay to do it when you want, how you want. The pandemic has given many of us a renewed appreciation for the benefits of mental and physical health, and we hope the film will inspire other women to want to feel that joy of moving, whether they’re jogging with their kids, squeezing in a HIIT session in between meetings or trying to walk instead of get the bus to get their steps up.”
Sharon Jiggins, Chief Marketing officer at FCB Inferno said; “It has been remarkable hearing the inspiring stories that the This Girl Can community have been sharing about how they are managing to stay active despite lock down throwing up a myriad more barriers. This film celebrates this but also acts as reminder that the barriers that were there before lockdown are still very much present during lockdown and as we emerge from it. That’s why it is so important we keep talking about those topics such as menstruation and menopause to normalise the conversations around them”
The stars of the This Girl Can film will also be appearing on the Instagram feeds of leading social influencers and commentators including popular fitness YouTubers Lucy Wyndham-Read and Tally Rye, journalists Poorna Bell and Bryony Gordon, and comedienne and TV presenter Judi love, who have all given space within their channels to share the women’s stories and drive conversations around women’s experiences of keeping active during lockdown.
As the relaunched advertising campaign returns on video on demand TV, social advertising and radio from Monday 14 September, This Girl Can is also providing more inspiration, information and ideas for getting active including a new and improved activity finder on the This Girl Can website, which provides accessible options sorted by location.
And as part of the Great British Week of Sport, taking place Saturday 19th – Sunday 27th September This Girl Can and ukactive will be bringing a unique evening of music and fitness on Saturday 26th September powered by Foundation FM. Streamed live across Instagram, the evening will feature exclusive workouts and DJ Sets, that people can join from the comfort of their own living room. You can join in at #BeActive and @GBweekofsport.
The campaign is supported by publicity from Red and media planning and buying from MediaCom and Manning Gottlieb OMD, respectively.
