Rebranding Feminism
ELLE UK, 2013
Rebranding Feminism
Print & Social Campaign
Creative Director, Suzanne Sykes. Editor-in-Chief, Lorraine Candy. Art Director, Miette L. Johnson. Creative Partners, Feminist Times, Mother, Jinan Younis, Brave, Vagenda, Wieden + Kennedy.
The conversation about feminism and what it means, is one that has run continually at ELLE HQ. We asked ourselves, does it need a rebrand? And so, #ELLEfeminism was born. We invited three feminist groups to work with award-winning advertising agencies Mother, Wieden+Kennedy and Brave to re-consider a term that many felt had become burdened. The impact was huge; debate sprung up on social media, major papers printed op-ed pieces, and with the support of Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Equalities Minister Jo Swinson, the topic was debated in parliament. Now part of a continuing, global conversation, this is where it all started.
“Rebranding doesn’t mean giving it… ‘a makeover, a softer sound or even a gold necklace.’ ELLE aren’t accessorizing it. They are making it more accessible, more understandable.”
— Huffington Post
Mother London & Feminist Times
Mother, awarded Agency of the Decade by Campaign magazine, teamed up with newly-launched Feminist Times to create the Make Them Pay campaign, which prompted women to ask for a pay rise by visiting a website to discover how much more their male counterpart is making for doing the same job. The creative quickly gained ministerial and industry support, with extensive media coverage. (Case study: Liam Fay-Fright)
Wieden + Kennedy & Vagenda
Satirical feminist Vagenda's co-founders, Holly Baxter and Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett collaborated with Wieden + Kennedy to create a social media campaign encouraging users to complete the phrase #Iamawomanand, aimed at challenging gender stereotypes.
