The organizers did not set out to create an anti-Trump statement, or to dispute the legitimacy of the presidency. The goal was to take a stand against a constant stream of rhetoric during the election that insulted, demonized, and threatened various groups: women, immigrants, people who identify as LGBTQIA, native and indigenous people, people with disabilities, the economically impoverished, and survivors of sexual assaults.

The rise to power of this new administration made many women feel powerless and disenfranchised. This march gave women a means of sending a signal to the world that they are committed to creating change from the grassroots level up, to achieve equality for women and to unify the women of the U.S. and beyond. The March was meant to encourage and motivate generations of women to work together in supportive ways to combat inequality.

The idea for the film was, “Why I March”, showcasing real women talking about the varied reasons that they have decided to stand in solidarity and participate in the Women’s March themselves.

The challenge in coordinating communication for the March was that we had no money and no time, and we therefore had to rely on the power of women rallying together to get the message out quickly. The execution and production of a series of films to promote the marches was put together in four weeks. The execution was created by an all female client team, creative team and production team.

The production budget for the film was under $25K, and there was no media budget for the campaign. We relied on the power of the message to gain traction for the cause organically on twitter, and Facebook. It also ran on TV as a public service announcement.

Without any paid media, the ‘Why I March’ film has amassed 8.93 Million organic views on Facebook since it first ran the week before the March. It has a further 124K views on YouTube.

The Women’s March was a movement that had already gathered momentum, but our communications captured the heart of the issues at stake and further inspired people to take part in the March.

Globally, it was estimated that well over 5 million women marched in 673 cities globally (Source: Financial Times). The Washington March drew at least 500,000 people, and in the United States the high-end estimate for total attendees to the various marches was 4.6 million individuals, the low-end estimate was 3.3 million (Source: The Atlantic). By all accounts, the Women’s March became the largest single-day demonstration march in U.S. history.

As a reference point, Donald Trump's inaguration drew 160,000 people (Source: The Atlantic).

The objective of the campaign was to inspire millions of women and those who support them to march. The strategy was to demonstrate an understanding of the wide range of varied reasons women would be marching on January 21st, 2017. Our key narrative was to show that we march together to recognize that women’s rights are human rights and they’re not to be ignored. By standing together, we can show that both women and men collectively will march to illuminate women’s issues and defend the most marginalized among us all. Most importantly, we wanted to encourage and galvanize legions of women and those who support them to get out and march.

TThe film encourages people to fight for the women’s rights that have been threatened by the rhetoric of the current cultural and political climate.

As the inauguration of Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States, was nearing, a group of volunteers were inspired to put together a Million Women March in Washington D.C. The March was meant to send a bold message to the new US administration on their first day in office and to the world, that women’s rights are human rights and are not to be ignored. At first the March was simply going to be hosted in D.C., but as word and significance of the event grew, new demonstrations began to organize in cities across the world.

The goal of the March, and the communications used to promote the March, was to create a megaphone for women, many of whom had concerns about the next four years of a hostile political climate. It aimed to show that women have a powerful voice, and their willingness to honor diversity of all kinds is what makes America great, not the misogynistic, xenophobic, racist rhetoric that spawned as a result of the recent election cycle.