IPG Agencies Launch Purpose Led Brand Platform 'See My Pain' for Nurofen

An integrated, open-architecture IPG team of McCann London, McCann Health London (an IPG Health company) and Golin has today launched a new purpose-led brand platform for Nurofen: ‘See My Pain’, which highlights how women’s pains have long been overlooked, ignored and dismissed through societal and medical biases.

The campaign kicks off today with the launch of the Nurofen Gender Pain Gap Index Report which reveals the true extent of the gender pain bias that women experience every day, where women are not taken seriously or deemed ‘emotional’ when it comes to their pain. The campaign rolls out across earned, owned and paid, led by a Metro cover wrap, Times and Telegraph single pages plus DOOH high impact sites.

Nurofen worked closely with McCann London and the IPG team to highlight that society’s current approach to women’s pain needs addressing. The existence of the gender pain gap is due to several factors: from the historical lack of medical research into women’s specific pains, the lack of mandatory training for healthcare professionals on women-specific conditions, underlying gender biases in society, and the recent broader gender health gap highlighted in the UK Government Women’s Health Strategy for England, published in July 2022.

The Index today highlights that nearly half (48%) of all adults surveyed believe there is a ‘gap’ in the identification and treatment of pain between genders. Out of those who felt their pain was ignored or dismissed, nearly one in four women versus one in six men said, generally, no one took their pain seriously.

Underpinning the social impact platform, Nurofen has made the bold strategic choice to commit to making a difference in closing the Gender Pain Gap. Nurofen’s commitments to take women’s pain seriously include: developing a variety of new tools that will assist both women and men in their description and articulation of their pains to healthcare professionals; committing to gender balance in the design, conduct and analysis of their clinical research; including, studying, and understanding women in their research; considering gender when interpreting their findings; publishing the results where appropriate to improve pain management and research; and regularly tracking their progress in closing the gap via the Gender Pain Gap Index Report. McCann London instigated the conversation and created the campaign with the support of Golin, who developed the Gender Pain Index Report and earned strategy, alongside Nurofen’s commitments, supported by work from McCann Health London in reaching HCPs.

By raising awareness of this Gender Pain Gap and amplifying women’s voices, Nurofen and IPG hope to improve the quality of pain conversations taking place in society, and will take steps to address and make progress against addressing gender biases and, ultimately, help to close the Gender Pain Gap.

For more information, and to download and read the Gender Pain Gap Report, visit here. 

Nuria Antoja, marketing director at Nurofen; Reckitt said, “The launch of the See My Pain campaign today is a bold strategic choice from Nurofen to commit to helping make a difference in women’s lives, rooted in the painful insight that there is, sadly, a gender pain gap. Nurofen's See My Pain campaign, the Gender Pain Gap Index and Nurofen’s commitments to support closing the gap are just the start of Nurofen's quest to improve conversations about women's health. We want to use the brand’s power and recognition to continue pushing for impactful changes, and we welcome other organisations to join us.”

Ruth Boulter, creative director at McCann London said, “We are so proud of our continued partnership with Nurofen and the shared ambition of the ‘See My Pain’ campaign, the latest project in our Pain Labs series, which exists as the first step in a journey to improve the lives of women by making their pain more visible in society. The commitments they have signed up to, and the women we have already worked with, feels like we are at the beginning of something very big”.

Victoria Brophy, EVP, Golin said “This social impact campaign is a multi-year, long-term commitment from a leading pain management brand to drive change for gender bias in pain and healthcare conversations. We are so proud to launch the Gender Pain Gap Index Report and Nurofen’s commitments. Stay tuned, as this isn't the last you'll hear from this formidable team. "