Imagine Campaign

Imagine a world where gender makes no difference. Perhaps we can, but how many of us truly think and live by that premise? Unconscious bias is still intrinsic in our society. We knew the best way to challenge that bias was to ask simple questions to make people think. Our campaign supported IWD’s #BreakTheBias theme, by asking people what they imagine when they see certain professionals or scenarios.

Firstly we surveyed 1000 UK primary school children and their parents. The survey revealed that the majority of children still assume doctors are men, nurses are women, and there are certain jobs girls can’t aim for in life.

We wanted our message to do all the talking, so we used a stripped back but beautiful design to allow the power of the questions to cut through. The questions were rooted in everyday scenarios that everyone could relate to, and in an open-ended tone encouraging self-awareness, not judgement.

The campaign launched on International Women’s Day, creating more of a buzz than we could have ever imagined. Posters and digital outdoor ads were accompanied by a big social media push. Official supporters of our campaign included Creative Equals, OpenMedia, Assembly and Goodstuff.

We expanded the idea to a wider audience by creating a children’s colouring book, illustrated by the artist Lily O’Farrell. “Draw what you imagine when you read the headline” the book asks, with an empty scene ready and waiting. The aim? To capture children’s gut reactions, and continue the conversation at home.