Unstoppable
Powered by Planned Parenthood
2018: with movements like #MeToo igniting powerful conversations nationwide, women were in the spotlight. Polls showed a growing hunger for social change, particularly around issues of sexual assault and harassment, especially among young women. Yet at the same time, many reported barriers to becoming politically active—namely, insufficient information and alienation from peers.
Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood had a viral message. They had a renewed sense of voice and purpose, and an expansive network of collaborators. Together, we set out to inspire a new wave of truth-tellers and unapologetic table-shakers with a national digital campaign. Unstoppable build knowledge, agency and solidarity, especially among young women who have, quite simply, had enough.
How might we make more activists?
Data-Driven Design Thinking
The organization came to us armed to the teeth with hard research. We pored through it, looking for pulse points — trends and tensions we could work with. Through a series of structured exercises (including a few we designed ourselves), we generated empathy maps and tons of ideas for reaching and activating our target audience, with a focus on lowering the barriers to engagement. Download our Persona Canvas for your next digital campaign.
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86%
of voters saw a connection between sexual harassment and a desire for power/control over women. Source: PerryUndem, Sexism, Harrassment, Culture and Equality, 2017.
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55%
of young women said not knowing enough about the issues kept them from becoming politically involved. Source: PRRI, The State of Young America, 2018.
Equity is Everything
Women represent more than half of the total U.S. population. Yet, in 2017, they made up just 19% of Congress. The numbers get only more dire when we consider women of color. This isn’t an accident. But if inequitable systems happen by design, they can be redesigned. As we brainstormed our way through a campaign framework, we asked ourselves: Who are we trying to reach? Do they have a seat at this table? How might our work affect them, even unintentionally?
Power to the People
With our eyes on equity and our hearts charged with purpose, we divvied up the labor to create multiple entry points to activism, across different channels and issues. Planned Parenthood called in Emmy-nominated filmmaker Tanya Selvaratnam to curate a series of political artworks by independent artists, while they leveraged their network to cook up an earned media campaign. Behind the scenes, we started building out the identity using PP visual library, though we agreed to keep branding minimal. Unstoppable belongs to the people.
FORWARD MARCH
Early in our design exploration, we mocked up a potential flag — simple, beautiful, marked by progressively generous, forward-leaning stripes in Planned Parenthood’s iconic Action Pink.
UNSTOPPABLE EVERYWHERE
Those angles became a framing device with infinite use cases. The Unstoppable wordmark sets the tone for the whole campaign: energetic, audacious, disruptive and triumphant.
“We insist on the basic right to live full, healthy lives, make our own decisions, and receive the care we need, when we need it.”
Lead With Vision
Every movement needs a manifesto — a full-throated statement of values, a vision. Unstoppable is no different. We collaborated with Planned Parenthood to develop ours through a rigorous process of drafting, sharing, vetting and editing. Rinse and repeat. It was critical that we consider all angles and hear ourselves through others’ ears. We wanted to be as inclusive as possible, focus on the key issues surrounding reproductive justice and demonstrate how they intersect for different people. We landed on eight core beliefs.
Live Your Values
Our bodies are our own.
Health care is a human right.
We must be able to decide for ourselves when
and whether to have children.
Birth control is basic health care.
We all deserve to be free from any form of sexual violence.
We deserve economic equality.
We must support parents.
We reject all forms of bigotry.
“We are building a world where everyone has the freedom and opportunity to control their own bodies and their own futures.”
Unstoppable HQ: Activating Allies
Next we got to work wireframing, designing and coding a website to house an interactive version of the manifesto, alongside Unstoppable art and details on the key issues. By just visiting the site and clicking literally anywhere, visitors become part of a progressive movement. Simple actions can have lasting impact. We all have to start somewhere.
Art as Activism
Producer Tanya Selvaratnam tapped creative powerhouses like Carrie Mae Weems, Wangechi Mutu and Barbara Kingsolver to contribute their work to the campaign. The resulting series provides powerful perspectives on femininity, autonomy and joyful resistance.
Cultivating Community
By representing diverse voices and experiences, inviting visitors to add their names and voices to a larger collective, we hoped to move a few hearts and minds, or help people looking for their place to find it, however briefly, however online.
Social by Design
We designed a full suite of social media assets, including post-worthy images and editable templates, available for download in both English and Spanish.
Gloria, Hallelujah
Feminist icons and pop luminaries like Gloria Steinem and Sia led the influencer charge, sharing the manifesto far and wide, encouraging their followers to do the same.
Unstoppable Impact
After an initial soft launch to build campaign awareness, Unstoppable formally took off in late summer, with hundreds of thousands of posts using the hashtag popping up across social media. From suburban moms to college students, trans rights activists to political up and comers, people from all backgrounds and experiences heard the call and responded.
We timed the Spanish-language site to launch for Hispanic Heritage Month, marking Planned Parenthood’s first ever campaña en Español. By the end of the year, Unstoppable had reached millions of activists, advocates and potential new allies, and a year that began in turmoil ended with a glimmer of hope that together, we are, in fact, unstoppable.