Healthcare has a deeply rooted gender problem. Women over-index in ALL types of pain, yet they’re more likely to have their pain ignored or dismissed by healthcare practitioners. Add to this the fact that almost all pain research is still only done on men, making society’s knowledge of pain in women woefully incomplete, and what you’re left with is a genuine health crisis for women. One that is leaving thousands in on-going, undiagnosed pain. It’s a phenomenon known as The Gender Pain Gap.

For Nurofen, a painkiller brand dedicated to putting people, not pain, in charge of life, this was painful to hear. So, we set out to tackle the issue.

Our goal was to raise awareness of The Gender Pain Gap, both amongst consumers and healthcare practitioners, to help women becoming more empowered and HCPs more informed and willing to change.

The core of the issue was that women’s pain was invisible: invisible in research and clinical trials, and invisible in the eyes of healthcare professionals. With See My Pain, we aimed to make it visible.

Through an integrated PR, TV, print and digital campaign we shone a light on the scale of the problem, emboldening women to come forward with their experiences, and empowering others to feel more confident in the doctors’ office. We created a new product range that highlighted the real dismissal women have received instead of treatment, validating the pains that have for so long gone ignored. And used this material to inform and educate healthcare professionals via a targeted digital campaign.

Through this platform, Nurofen also launched a series of industry-first commitments including pioneering gender equal clinical trials, new research grants and gender bias training in Boots and Superdrug for 10,000 healthcare professionals.

To cement Nurofen as an industry leader in tackling the Gender Pain Gap we tapped into topical conversations, approached female journalists (known for sharing their experiences of pain) to reach HCPs and female consumers.

Messaging and supporting assets:

*Contextualised the size of the issue; commissioning a first-of-its-kind report of 5,100 UK people to quantify their gap in experience/treatment/awareness of pain. 1 in 2 women admitted they felt their pain is ignored/dismissed.

*Shared authentic stories of real women; we created a range of over-the-counter products – showcasing real dismissals women often hear – from ‘you’re being dramatic’ to ‘maybe you’re stressed’ appearing in PR, OOH, digital/physical events to stimulate discussion around the Gender Pain Gap, on International Women’s Day.

*Demonstrated Nurofen’s action to help close the gap; launching commitments which included a £5m+ per year investment covering initiatives such as HCP training programmes to ensure women’s pain gets seen and treated.

The Gender Pain Gap is a complex issue. We employed a considered and co-ordinated response to tackle it:

We first shed light on the issue with some much-needed data that would make women’s pain impossible to ignore. We commissioned the first ever Gender Pain Gap Index report, featuring the experiences of 10,000 men and women. This provided valuable 1st-party data to validate the issue and fuel news coverage. We also used this moment to announce our system-changing commitments such as gender matched clinical trials and research investment.

We followed this up with a hard-hitting consumer campaign (TV and social media) that honed-in on the dismissals and misdiagnoses women have received in response to their accounts of pain. Featuring real women’s experiences and directing women to the website for further advice and support.

Finally, this was all used to create bespoke healthcare professional training material aimed at correcting the endemic bias.

We positively implanted the issue into the public conscience.

*300+ pieces of earned media coverage including Sky News, Daily Mail, Stylist, WSJ, Forbes delivering 582m reach.

*Huge spike in google searches for ‘Gender Pain Gap,’ overtaking both the Bodyform campaign and the UK Government’s Women’s Health Strategy announcement.

*650% increase in positive brand sentiment

We un-did our own ingrained biases.

*First OTC medicine brand to announce gender equal clinical trials across entire product range.

*Invested millions in new research in better understanding pain in women.

We’re changing HCP opinions and behaviours.

*Influential HCPs posted in support of campaign, including Dr Nighat (BBC Breakfast) and Dr Philipa Kaye (This Morning). Influencers are heavily regulated in UK pharma – the fact they posted a branded report organically is almost unheard of.