B&T’s Women in Media Awards, presented by Are Media are a celebration of progress, not only recognising the women driving change in our industry, but the campaigns that are reshaping the conversation around gender equality.
The Best Ad Campaign Championing the Equality Cause category honours creative work that goes beyond awareness. These are the campaigns that challenge assumptions, shift culture and spark real-world impact.
In 2021, The Monkeys’ #WhenWillSheBeRight transformed a laid-back Aussie phrase into a powerful rallying cry for gender progress. And in 2024, the Matildas’ ‘Til It’s Done campaign rallied the nation, broke records and helped secure $200 million in government funding for women’s sport.
Each of these campaigns left a mark. This year, another will rise to meet the moment. Who will it be?
Entries for B&T’s Women In Media Awards, presented by Are Media close tomorrow at Midnight!
With those final entries still coming in, we can’t begin to speculate who might take the top honours in 2025. So let’s recap the ads that left a huge mark over the last five years!
2024: “‘Til It’s Done” – Ogilvy Australia for The Matildas
In 2024, the “‘Til It’s Done” campaign stood out as a defining moment for women’s sport in Australia. Launched in the wake of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, which was co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, the campaign helped shift the national conversation around the Matildas, from underfunded underdogs with outdated kits and limited support, to symbols of resilience and change.
At its core, “‘Til It’s Done” reflected the Matildas’ relentless pursuit of both victory and gender equality. It aimed to unite the country behind the team, drive World Cup viewership, and inspire more women and girls to play football. A powerful hero film, backed by social and outdoor media, brought the campaign’s message to life and captured hearts across the nation.
After the Matildas’ heartbreaking semi-final exit, the campaign delivered one of its most powerful moments, a viral outdoor activation featuring a to-do list of the ongoing inequities in women’s sport. It struck a chord with the public and reinforced the message that the work wasn’t finished.
The results were game-changing: more than 3.2 million impressions of the #tilitsdone hashtag, a 61 per cent recall rate, and a 77 per cent positive sentiment rating. Most significantly, the campaign helped secure a $200 million investment in women’s sport from the Albanese Government, cementing its legacy beyond the pitch.
2023: “Equality: Our Final Frontier” – The Monkeys, part of Accenture Song for UN Women Australia
In 2023, The Monkeys’ campaign for UN Women Australia emerged as a powerful wake-up call on the slow pace of progress toward gender equality. Prompted by the 2022 World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report, which revealed that equality was 132 years away, up from 100 years in 2021, the campaign set out to raise awareness in a way that was both confronting and creatively compelling.
The concept was simple yet striking: while the world races ahead with advancements in technology and science, gender equality is falling behind. We live in a time of flying cars, AI-generated art and space tourism. And yet, women are still waiting for equal rights.
The campaign’s centrepiece was a haunting animated film created with AI, following a young woman as she walks through a futuristic timeline where society achieves incredible technological milestones, elevators to space, moon colonies, brain enhancements, while gender inequality remains untouched.
Integrated typography within the world subtly marked these milestones, leading to a chilling conclusion: in the year 2157, the woman, now living on the Moon, is still catcalled from a rocket.
The message landed. The campaign reached over 11 million people globally, including 3.3 million TikTok users, and earned media coverage reaching 6.4 million. It also sparked real-world action, its visuals were adopted by protestors at women’s rights rallies across Australia following the overturning of Roe v Wade, proving its message was impossible to ignore.
2022: “Be The Change” – Innocean Australia for Fck The Cupcakes
In 2022, Innocean Australia and Fck the Cupcakes (FTC) launched a bold and darkly funny campaign designed to tackle a troubling statistic: Australian men were the second most likely globally to believe “gender inequality doesn’t really exist,” just behind Saudi Arabia (IPSOS, 2022). The challenge? Many men were either disengaged by stories of misogyny or unaware of how their everyday behaviour might contribute to the problem.
Enter “Be The Change”, a campaign created not to shame men, but to bring them into the conversation.
Recognising that traditional awareness messaging wasn’t cutting through, the team flipped the script by creating a sitcom. Using black comedy to highlight casual misogyny, the show was designed to make men laugh, then think.
Drawing on white papers and real-life interviews, the campaign transformed research into a relatable and engaging narrative. It reached men where they were, with integrated TV, radio, OOH, and digital activity all pointing to an online hub filled with tools to help men recognise and challenge gender inequality in their daily lives.
The key insight? If the message only speaks to women, it ignores the part of the population who need to be part of the solution. “Be The Change” was about helping men find their voice and role in dismantling everyday sexism, not by preaching, but by holding up a mirror and inviting them in.
2021: “When Will She Be Right” – The Monkeys, part of Accenture Interactive for UN Women Australia
In 2021, The Monkeys launched what would become a culture-shifting campaign for UN Women Australia: #WhenWillSheBeRight.
Faced with a tight budget and zero media spend, the team had to get creative. Australia ranked 44th on the Global Gender Gap Index, and public engagement around gender inequality was inconsistent at best. So, The Monkeys took the well-worn Aussie phrase “she’ll be right” and flipped it on its head, asking, “When will she be right?” The question became a rallying cry.
To spark conversation, they released a powerful monologue-style film led by Indigenous Australian actress Miah Madden. Designed for social media, the video laid bare confronting stats about gender inequality in Australia, forcing viewers to consider how far “she” still is from being right.
With no paid media, the campaign relied on momentum. Artists and illustrators began responding organically, posting their own interpretations of the question across social platforms. The Monkeys gathered these community creations and turned them into a striking out-of-home campaign. The media took notice, and soon television networks began offering donated air time to help amplify the message.
The impact was extraordinary. One in 26 Australians watched the film through organic sharing. The campaign generated an estimated $4 million in earned media and set a new benchmark for UN Women Australia in terms of reach and cultural cut-through.
#WhenWillSheBeRight became a modern call to action, questioning the status quo and rallying Australians to demand better.
2020: “C’mon Aussie: Revisited” – GHO Sydney for Commbank
In 2020, with Australia set to host the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, CommBank and GHO Sydney set out to turn years of quiet dominance by the Australian Women’s Cricket Team into a roar of national support. Despite being world leaders on the pitch, the team hadn’t historically drawn the crowds to match their success, and CommBank, a 20-year sponsor of the team, was ready to change that.
The goal was ambitious: elevate awareness of CommBank’s long-standing support for women’s cricket, improve brand perception, and fill the MCG for the final on International Women’s Day. Even more boldly, they aimed to break the world record for attendance at a women’s cricket match.
The result? A history-making crowd of 86,174 fans packed into the MCG to watch Australia defeat India in a thrilling final. The game became the highest-attended women’s sporting event in Australian history, the sixth most-watched cricket match ever, and Foxtel’s number one show of 2020.
In the lead-up, the campaign rolled out across TV, radio, social, and in-ground activations. CommBank even released an extended version of the campaign anthem on streaming platforms, with proceeds donated to the McGrath Foundation, ensuring the feel-good energy translated into real-world impact.
It was a landmark moment not just for cricket, but for women’s sport in Australia, proving that when given the stage, female athletes will draw the crowds they deserve.
Entries for B&T’s Women In Media Awards, presented by Are Media close tomorrow at Midnight!
