In this film we portray different women saying “YES” against all the “NOs” they face every day. We pay tribute to all women: their diversity, courage, independence, strength, emotions, and sensitivity. The main characters are strong and exceptional women, and the film tells the story of each and every one of them: businesswoman, influencer, and mother of three Aleksandra Żebrowska breastfeeding her kid in public; rower and Olympic runner-up Katarzyna Zillmann displaying her love for her girlfriend Julia Walczak; Aleksandra Wiederek-Barańska, who for over five years has been encouraging people to get tested and prevent breast cancer after she survived it; Christina Flagmeier, who became a model at the age of 74 and proves that beauty has no age, and Bogna Golec, a plus-size model who defies societal body expectations. 

Poland is in 23rd place in the EU in terms of gender equality. 2021 saw a backward step for women’s rights in Poland, as a near-total ban on abortion caused massive outrage. The demand for restoring women’s rights has not only been limited to reproductive rights but has become a broader movement challenging the status quo on women’s issues. In Poland, gender representation in fashion and jewelry advertising is strongly driven by unrealistic stereotypes: women in ads are portrayed as fake and oversexualized, and their role is just being a part of a glamorous atmosphere. There has never been any mainstream Polish advertising campaign that showed real Polish women and celebrated their authentic selves and diversity. And society as a whole started to notice this pattern and voice their discontentment. 

YES, as a local brand, identified this social climate, and decided to be brave and fight all these stereotypes. Women in Poland hear the word “NO” too often. NO to breastfeeding in public spaces, NO to looking natural, NO to being single, NO to free love, NO to ageism, NO to originality or being different from the norm. We wanted to start a discussion about the meaning of being a woman at this time and day in a country like Poland. The campaign “I'm a Woman” was aimed at paying tribute to real Polish women - their diversity, courage, independence, emotions, and sensitivity. The main message is “I am a woman because I feel like one”. We targeted women 35-45 y.o who think differently, value diversity, are far from being clichés, and have the courage to fulfill their own ideas about life. The main pieces of the campaign, in which we portrayed strong and exceptional women were a film, print, and OOH campaign, communication in stores, and social channels. The campaign kicked off with the main film, which started airing at the beginning of November 2021, in time for the Holiday season. This film was made available at the same time on every major TV channel (aside from the right-leaning public TV, which decided not to broadcast it), the 3 biggest cinema chains in Poland, owned and influencer Social Media channels and VOD platforms, along with a prominent PR coverage in different lifestyle magazines and portals. A few days after the film aired, we continued the campaign narrative with a print campaign in which we portrayed the heroines from our film along with powerful and inspiring messages. Those images were displayed in YES stores all around the country, website, on social channels, and on OOH. Lastly, we also created a TV sponsorship billboard featuring Neo Mosa, a gender-fluid person stating that “I am a woman because I feel like one”. This campaign broke the mold of how women are portrayed in mainstream campaigns, especially by the glamour industry, and received very prompt and spectacular reactions from the Polish audience; it was visible, strongly resonated culturally, and had an organic effect. In the first 2 weeks of the campaign - before the TV leg of the campaign even started - YES organically acquired a 7 348% increase in brand mentions reach. The campaign organically generated 32 million contacts with the brand online - of which 25 million were just in the first two weeks. This volume would not have been reached through its emission on public TV, which finally forbade its emission. Overall, the obtained Advertising Value Equivalent amounted to 2 million dollars, almost half of the paid media budget. Sales and business impact followed – for premium collections presented in the campaign reached an increase of 303% YoY.