EE Hope United

Not Her Problem

Credits

Creative
Alex Kosterman

Creative Lead
Myself

Design Director
Nathan Crawford

ECD
Will John

Director
Sasha Rainbow @ Academy

The brief

91% of the online hate female footballers receive comes from men. And the problem peaks during international tournaments. As sponsors of the home nations football teams, EE want to tackle it ahead of the 2022 Women’s Euros.

The Idea

Not Her Problem. Exploring all the very real problems female players face and overcome to succeed at their professional level. Before showing some of the most influential men in football step up on TV, OOH and social to own the one problem no woman should have to face. A problem that starts with men, and should be tackled by them too. Sexist hate.

The execution

In TV we created an unapologetically visceral representation of the women’s game. Featuring powerful real stories from the women themselves, before using some of the most influential men in the game to encourage other men to step up and tackle sexist hate directly. This tone and structure flowed through our social and OOH.

The result

Our TV reached 35 million people, and generated mentions from the BBC, Metro, The Times and Marie Claire, becoming EE’s most salient ad ever. The campaign also picked up Bronze at the British Arrows, 2x Golds, Silver and Bronze at Creative Circle, a D&AD shortlist, and the Thinkbox TV Creative Award for Summer.