When you notice The Gender Pain Gap, you can’t un-see it. And when we saw it, we realised Nurofen, as the world’s leading pain brand had a responsibility to fix it. Not just in communications, but through deep organisational and societal change.

We changed our approach to clinical trials. We changed our approach to NPD. We changed the way we engage with healthcare practitioners and the focus of our marketing spend.

And in doing so, we put a spotlight on the issue and challenged society to be an ally to the women who need the world to ‘See My Pain’.

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. Not just through communications, but through deep organisational and societal change.

• Women’s pain has been dismissed for centuries. Gender bias is ingrained in our society. Over time we can see the devastating impact of gender bias in healthcare. While women in the UK live longer than men, they comparatively spend a significantly greater proportion of their lives in ill health.

• This historical neglect of women’s perspectives in medicine has led to a lack of data and research into women’s pain, resulting in a healthcare system made by men, for men. A devastating outcome of this is the Gender Pain Gap.

• Compulsory women’s health training for new doctors was only made mandatory in 2022 and won’t come into effect until 2024.

• And women’s health continues to be underfunded. Almost 1 in 3 women experience severe reproductive health issues in their lifetime, but for every £1 spent by the NHS on reproductive care, just 1p is spent on reproductive research, while heart disease receives 7p.

• And gender stereotypes creep into healthcare. A study in 2018 found that doctors often viewed men with chronic pain as “brave” or “stoic” and women as “hysterical” or “emotional”.

• And 1 in 10 women choose selfcare over consulting healthcare professionals for pain because they fear not being believed.

• The UK has the largest female health gap in the G20 and the 12th largest globally.

• In fact, 8,243 women died between 2002 and 2013, in England and Wales because they did not receive the same standard of care as men.

The core of the issue was that women’s pain was invisible, with See My Pain we aimed to make it visible.

But a problem this big needs a proper solution. Not just a TV-ad; but a nuanced, multi-year brand and business response. So that’s what we did.

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 fake product range highlighting real dismissals women have received instead of treatment, validating pains that have for so long gone ignored. And used this material to inform and educate both women and healthcare professionals via retail partnerships with 2x leading UK pharmacy chains.

Under this platform, Nurofen also launched numerous industry-first commitments including pioneering gender balanced clinical trials & female-focused research grants.

Strategic thinking started by analysing existing academic research to understand the barriers propagating the issue. This is when we realised how well-suited Nurofen was as a business to not just talk about, but genuinely tackle it. With laboratories across the country and long-standing partnerships with healthcare organisations, Nurofen could make changes that drive society forward.

We then conducted face-to-face interviews with over 100 female pain sufferers. They shared accounts of going back and forth to doctor appointments with unexplained pain and being met with the same dismissals again and again. “But your tests look normal,” “Could it be stress, have you tried yoga?” When they finally did get through to see a specialist, oftentimes, those “regular period pains” turned out to be enormous fibroids, or stage 4 endometriosis requiring invasive surgery.

This sharpened our focus for our awareness-driving campaign. We had to draw attention to this pain, and these dismissals!

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 first party data to validate the issue and fuel news coverage.

*We 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 public conscience:

• Generated 300+ pieces of earned media coverage including Sky News, Daily Mail, Stylist, WSJ, Forbes and globally in Australia, US, Germany, delivering 582m reach

• Spiked google search for ‘Gender Pain Gap,’ overtaking both Bodyform campaign and UK Government’s Women’s Health Announcement.

• 650% increase in positive brand sentiment

We un-did our own ingrained biases and set an example for the industry:

• The first OTC medicine brand to announce gender balanced clinical trials

• Millions invested in research to better understand pain in women

We’re changing behaviours:

• Training material rolled out to 10,000+ pharmacy staff

• 87% healthcare practitioners researched now acknowledge the problem

• In-pharmacy activation resulted in 5% sales uplift

• TVC more than x2 more effective and engaging than Nurofen’s standalone BAU campaign

• Driving 2% increase in ROI on BAU TVC when played in combination