Saatchi & Saatchi

Client: EE
Product: Hope United
Title: Not her Problem
Media: TV, Online, Digital, OOH, Print
Country: United Kingdom
Date Of Campaign: 29th July 2022

Background: All too often it’s on women to speak out against the online hate they receive. It seeps into their daily lives, taking energy from them that would be better spent elsewhere. But this should not be a woman's problem to solve. Our goal was to launch a campaign that would fix the system, not the women, and promote male allyship on a national level for the first time ever.

Idea: Enter Hope United: a mixed gender team made up of some of the most influential people in UK football. Brought together to fight online hate. Positive, cool, with enough credibility to reach our male audience without compromising on the Euros excitement. And ‘Not her problem’ became our mantra. Punchy, defiant – its spirit helped us bring the colourful and inspiring realities of our female athletes’ problems to life, without painting them as victims. It also allowed the people men look up to the most like, Jordan Henderson, Trent Alexander Arnold, Rio Ferdinand and Gareth Southgate, to play a prominent part in our campaign without overshadowing these professional and successful women. The creative focus was to show how brilliant and powerful the female players were. Then use our male players and influences to encourage their combined 48 million followers to step up and tackle sexist hate directly.

Results: On both a brand and societal level, the campaign generated serious impact during its flight from June to August. EE masterbrand brand closeness and consideration moved two percentage points from 42% to 44% and 35% to 37% respectively. FCPI metrics also lifted from 7% to 8%. Our TVC reached 35 million people, and the campaign generated £3.02 million in earned media, including mentions from the BBC, Metro, The Times and Marie Claire. Not forgetting the 3.8 million Brits we helped become better allies with digital lessons for tackling and reporting hate. During a watershed moment for women’s football, and women in general, Not Her Problem drove understanding and action around online sexist hate like never before. By empowering men to be better allies, instead of painting women as victims, we transformed a nation of bystanders into upstanders at the very moment our Lionesses made history.