Creating a visceral campaign on pregnancy and maternity discrimination

Creative Moment talks to creative director Gemma Phillips about how her passionate connection with client Pregnant Then Screwed resulted in the campaign everyone’s talking about.

Tom Hall, Creative Moment (TH): How did you get involved with Pregnant Then Screwed?

Gemma Phillips (GP): I first connected with Pregnant Then Screwed in 2020 when I came back to work after having twins. I saw how advertising agencies and the creative industry as a whole were getting it really wrong when it came to supporting mothers returning to work. It was at this juncture that we were haemorrhaging senior female talent.

I put a presentation together, took it to my CEO and said, "This is what's happening, and this is how we’re failing. Here’s what we should be doing". Luckily he was really supportive and that initial meeting led to the creation of the Saatchi Family which resulted in policy change for over 5,000 Publicis Groupe employees across 32 agencies. It was a huge achievement and something I was incredibly proud to be a part of.

Eventually, the conversation with Pregnant Then Screwed evolved into one of creative collaboration. I suggested: "Why don’t you come in as a client, and let’s see what we can do". That’s how, in 2023, we ended up launching the ‘Cry for Help’ campaign.

TH: How did you approach the creative?

GP: The campaign focused on the crippling cost of childcare for working parents. In many cases Pregnant Then Screwed were finding that women were actually paying to work. It made absolutely no economic or business sense.

We wanted to make the issue of childcare costs impossible to ignore, literally. We used a baby’s cry, scientifically modified with an audio scientist to be as unignorable as possible. We adjusted its cadence and pitch to make it even more attention-grabbing.

We then pushed this sound out across multiple channels including audio-enabled digital out-of-home advertising, Spotify ads, public speakers, Tannoys and Mother’s Day cards that played the sound when opened.

We even took the campaign to Downing Street and delivered it directly to the government. It headlined the BBC 10 o’clock news bulletin, which was incredible.

TH: What was the impact of this?

GP: The campaign didn’t just win creative awards, it had a massive real-world impact. It helped secure a £4bn investment from the government in early years childcare: the biggest investment in over a decade. Before this, parents had to wait until their child turned three to access 30 hours of childcare support. Now, it starts at nine months. There are still huge challenges in the childcare sector but this placed the conversation front and centre.

TH: How did this transition to the Career Shredder campaign?

GP: After the success of Cry for Help, we immediately asked, "What’s next?". A shocking new piece of research by Pregnant Then Screwed showed that pregnancy and maternity discrimination in the UK had increased by 37% since 2016. Previously, 54,000 women were forced out of the workplace each year due to discrimination. Now, that number is up at 74,000. We knew we had to do something to bring this huge waste of female talent to life.

I left Saatchi & Saatchi at the end of last year so launching this campaign was a massive undertaking.

For Cry for Help, we had the full support of an agency network: designers, strategists, producers and media planners. With Career Shredder, it was just myself and a small but hugely passionate pro-bono team. We handled everything from media negotiations, production, celebrity outreach, social media strategy and fundraising.

Despite the huge challenges, it’s been such an incredible project to be a part of. So many people have given their time, energy, contacts and expertise for free to help bring this to life. We’ve been blown away.

TH: I was going to ask about the ideation process, but it sounds like you had a clear vision from the start?

GP:  Exactly. One of the biggest issues with pregnancy and maternity is that it can be very invisible. It often happens behind closed doors and is rarely documented in emails. It’s often implied through unrecorded conversations and offhand comments. It’s like the classic frog in boiling water analogy, by the time you realise it happening, it’s too late; you’ve been moved off the account, left out of the meetings or assigned to the ‘B’ team. Women feel extremely angry and frustrated but there’s not been any outlet for them to channel this. We want to provide this outlet by harnessing the power of the collective.

The Career Shredder was designed to make the invisible, visible. It not only dramatises this huge waste of talent but it does so in a very visceral way.

When I pitched it, women who had returned to work felt it instantly - there was just this instant recognition. It wasn’t just about shredding a CV; it was about shredding their identity, their value, and their self-confidence. That’s why the idea resonates so powerfully.

TH: What kind of results have you seen so far?

GP: So far we’ve had over 14,000 unique visits to the website, but this number is still climbing by about 1,000 visits per day.

But the real impact has been on LinkedIn. People have flooded the comments sections sharing their stories. Many have messaged me directly, saying: "This happened to me, but I’ve never had an outlet to talk about it." Many men have reached out too, frustrated and upset about what their partners have faced.

The emotional outpouring has been overwhelming. It’s clear that this issue desperately needed a platform.