I remember exactly where I was when I was first told Sport England was going to invest National Lottery funds into a marketing campaign to help women get active.
“That sounds great!” – I thought – “But we won’t do it. We’re not that type of organisation.”
However, it turns out we did and we were!
Successfully, and over the last 10 years, This Girl Can's real, relatable and unfiltered stories, images, films, resources and partnerships have inspired 3.2 million women to get active, many of them getting back into it after a long break.
The knicker-snap in that first ad changed everything.
We have given women reasons to move more that don’t mention their weight, size or the need to get ‘bikini-body ready’, because we think the best way to get 'bikini-body ready' is to firstly, get a bikini and to secondly, put it on.
We have understood how impossible physical activity can feel to those of us who hated sport at school or aren’t as good at it as we used to be.
We’ve also tackled the emotional barriers.
One woman told me she was “too fat to get fit”, another that she should be "spending time with her family" instead of exercising and a third that she just wasn’t "one of those sporty types".
We have given women reasons to move more that don’t mention their weight, size or the need to get ‘bikini-body ready’, because we think the best way to get 'bikini-body ready' is to firstly, get a bikini and to secondly, put it on.
We have shown what getting active looks like in reality: the sweat, the jiggles, the puffed-out faces with make-up streaking down the cheeks or with no make-up at all.
And we’ve also shown what real women’s bodies look like by showing cellulite, stomachs, thighs, bad hair days, three-days worn joggers, on our periods, giving birth, going through the menopause or having the audacity to age. How dare we?!
We have also celebrated the women who don’t give a damn and clamored for change when they told us they didn’t feel safe exercising outside, so we can liberate women from the fear of judgement that stops so many of us taking part.
It’s been a joy and a privilege to run This Girl Can for so long – and I’ve learned a lot along the way, including:
This Girl Can succeeded because so many women generously shared their stories, images and lives. We street-cast all of them – finding women getting active without giving a damn – in parks and at parkruns, in the pool, on the pitch and at the gym. But let me tell you, if they thought getting cast in a TV ad was going to be glam, they were wrong – they had to work out before the cameras started shooting and we put the results on giant billboards near their homes. But they did it to support other women, to show their daughters what we look like doesn’t matter and to prove that there is no reason sport should just belong to the boys. If you share a sweaty selfie, go for a walk, run to an exercise class with friends, or let your children see you prioritising your own activity, you are doing the same. Thank you!
This Girl Can was originally called Run/Jump/Throw Like a Girl. We signed off the name and literally the next day, Always released their campaign of the same name and it was brilliant! I sulked for a week but our brilliant creatives came up with This Girl Can. A name which suited our campaign objectives much better – a self-affirming mantra that can get you off the couch, up the hill, into the gym class or past that bunch of lads telling you to go faster.
This Girl Can succeeded because so many partners and supporters got involved changing and shaping what they were doing to meet the needs of women we were engaging with. We haven’t always been the easiest brand to work with – I’ve had to learn to let go and I always wish there was more time – but when I see what universities, schools, national governing bodies, local authorities and active partnerships are doing I'm always blown away. So thank you too! I will always feel old though when someone I’ve just given a job to tells me they remember seeing the campaign in school.
I have become one of those people who goes for a run on Christmas Day and I can’t stress enough how unlikely you would find this if you’d known me at school. Or in my twenties. Or thirties. But This Girl Can has changed my relationship with being active. I know that when I’m moving more I’m happier, calmer, more productive and, overall, better company to be with.This is why – in addition to it being my job at Sport England – I believe so strongly that no woman should be left behind. We all deserve to feel that good. I’m proud that 50% of women recognise the campaign, but until the other 50% do too we’ll keep going.
Now, if you think after 10 years we’ve done everything that needed to be done, said everything that needed to be said or moved as much or as far as we needed to get to, you’re wrong my friend!
The next phase of the campaign – Phase Six – will focus on women from under-represented groups with the most to gain from just starting to move and I can’t wait to share the details of what we’re going to do from next month.
So I raise my water bottle as I wish happy birthday to This Girl Can.
Thank you to all my colleagues and to everyone who shared our content, supported us, bought a National Lottery ticket, created opportunities to be active, worked on the campaign or simply put on their trainers and went for a walk.
This Girl Can, because you did.