Diversity & Inclusion in Creative Communications
With grateful thanks to our sponsor
80% of autistic women and nonbinary people are left undiagnosed by 18 because of male stereotypes dominating the condition. Leaving thousands of people struggling in a world not designed for them, questioning and blaming themselves for being different.
“Now I Know” tells stories to inspire late and undiagnosed autistic women and nonbinary people to have their voices heard and begin to find answers.
Working with Alex Heron, an autistic photographer, we photographed each person in spaces that reflected their personalities. Each person was given a shutter release, giving them control of capturing themselves as they wish to be seen.
Judges Comments
This truly authentic campaign meaningfully involves women and nonbinary people with autism throughout the entire creative process. It is an audience that is not often represented in the media—where the stereotype depicts autism as an issue that mainly affects boys/men—and is therefore often overlooked and misunderstood.
This target group was placed right in the centre of the campaign’s concept and execution. Working with an autistic photographer who understood the audience demonstrated the great care taken to represent the subjects true to who they are as individuals. The fact that the subject had the shutter release and was able to decide when the image was captured was a particularly innovative and inspiring touch. On top of this, the campaign encouraged the submission of real patient stories and achieved great engagement, firmly demonstrating its effectiveness in the real world. It also gained incredible coverage, raising awareness and widely spreading the message.
Judges loved the impressive effort to fully integrate the target group into all aspects of the campaign, ensuring its refreshing authenticity. Two major strengths stood out. Firstly, the focus on positivity and strength, while also ensuring that the participants were comfortable in their own skin, environment and with the image that the world would see. Secondly, the intersectionality, which is often missed! The attention to detail also made this campaign really stand out, from the idea itself right through the execution—including the steering group, photographer and patient subjects.
Thoughtfully crafted at every level, this campaign truly centred autistic women and nonbinary people in its process and campaign outputs, bringing our attention to the huge gap in awareness of how autism presents differently in different people.
David-Jason Gordon, Virgo Health
1 in 2 women have had their pain ignored or dismissed.
The Gender Pain Gap is a health crisis for women. To make women’s pain impossible to ignore, we commissioned a Gender Pain Gap report.
Through an integrated campaign, we shone a light on the scale of the problem and empowered more women to share their experiences. And a new product range highlighted real dismissals that women receive. Also, Nurofen launched a series of industry-first commitments including pioneering gender balance in clinical trials and gender bias training.
582M REACH
650% Increase in POSITIVE brand SENTIMENT
2.3K HCPs engaged on social
Data showed women in North East London (NEL) had the poorest womb cancer survival rates in the UK and a disproportionate number were of non-White ethnicity. Womb cancer survival is significantly improved when caught early and a red-flag symptom is post-menopausal vaginal bleeding. For women living in NEL from Black African, Black Caribbean and South Asian backgrounds, awareness of this was low due to poor health literacy, language barriers, cultural taboos, and distrust of healthcare services.
Using real-life people and insight, we built a culturally sensitive campaign with authentic representation at its core to drive positive change among these communities.
Lack of inclusive HIV care for the transgender community has contributed to the UK’s trans healthcare crisis.
Working with a powerhouse of experts and advocates, we dug deep into the challenges faced by patients and providers in the UK. Ultimately, to gain clarity on how to rebuild the trans community’s trust in sexual health services and make the British HIV Association Standards of Care a reality.
The solution? Transgender training co-created with the community—using appropriate language, practical tips and real-life stories, we reflected the needs of the trans community and empowered HCPs to make trans-inclusive practices the new normal.
The gender health gap persists, with women facing longer diagnosis delays and subpar treatment outcomes.
Our mission: capture women’s experiences, uncover delay drivers, and devise effective interventions. Informed by comprehensive research, including interviews, surveys, and workshops, we decoded underlying behaviors with TDF and COM-B tools. Insight revealed a common denominator: the word “JUST” in consultations, perpetuating delays and discrimination.
Our proposition: “JUST” is more than a word—it’s a sentence to women.
By addressing biases through coaching modules and support for both physicians and women, we sought to empower women and bridge the gap to equitable healthcare.
Sickle cell disease patients have long been an underserved population1, so how could we create a campaign that can connect with an audience that feels like no one’s listening?
We built a campaign based around their real needs.
We interviewed patients, carers, HCPs and advocates across Europe to understand the true needs of our audience. From these individual stories, we created a campaign that amplified the real-life, authentic voices of this underserved patient group.
“As someone who lives with SCD I have the same worries, and seeing this information makes me feel recognised and empowered.”
SCD patient in the UK
1. Sickle Cell Society. No One’s Listening. 2021.
Pain is a societal burden.
1 in 3 experience pain daily; cultural, language and educational barriers mean not everyone gets equal access to care. 83% of Black Americans report having negative experiences when seeking help and managing pain.
Pharmacists can improve healthcare access for underserved communities. To aid pharmacists, patient pain profiles were developed using the Global Pain Index study, aiding conversations and pain management skills. Intimate portraits of diverse lived experiences showed pain isn’t one word. An estimated 1,000,000 people benefitted weekly across 21 countries.
#ListenToPain tackled a global need with a bold mission to leave no patient alone with pain.
