Bupa UK Launches New Social Media Campaign, #PowerfulRealStories, In Support Of Women’s Mental Health   

Bupa UK has this week launched #PowerfulRealStories, a digital media campaign in support of women’s mental health, encouraging people to share their real stories and “unfilter” their lives. The films will be hosted on Instagram and YouTube using programmatic video. 

The new campaign, created and produced by Bupa UK in collaboration with creative content agency Contented Group , features two powerful 2 x 30 second films, filmed as a single take execution, with one continuous shot of two women speaking directly to camera, as if they are being filmed at home, using granular, intimate videography. As they speak, their composure and conversation slowly ‘unfilter’ revealing the inconsistencies between ‘filtered’ lives on social media and people’s daily realities and struggles.

The campaign will also feature an augmented reality (AR) filter for Instagram, which uses an ‘enhanced’ image of the user, slowly dissolving to reveal their natural self. Carefully selected influencers, such as interior designer, creator, presenter and author Lisa Dawson, will also use the AR filter, uncovering the challenges of living up to unrealistic expectations on their own platforms, and challenging their peers and followers to use the filter.  

#PowerfulRealStories, which was produced entirely by and with women aims to highlight comparison culture, now endemic on many social media platforms. More widely the campaign seeks to tackle the rise of poor mental health exacerbated by the pandemic, and in particular the highly documented impact on women due to the unrealistic expectations and feelings of inadequacy that ‘filtered’ social media creates. 

#PowerfulRealStories comes after Bupa UK’s ‘normal mums’ campaign, launched in March 26 on International Women’s Day, which aimed to challenge unrealistic portrayals of motherhood on social media. It found that influencers on social media, celebrity posts and ‘mum-fluencers’ made half (50%) of UK mums feel they had to live up to unrealistic standards. It also follows Bupa UK’s brand campaign ‘Is it Normal?’ which launched in January 2020, aiming to normalise seeking support for mental health. #PowerfulRealStories signposts users to Bupa’s free mental health content, designed to help both Bupa customers and members of the public.

Helen Bruce, Head of Consumer Marketing for Bupa UK Insurance said; “The #PowerfulRealStories campaign aims to champion authentic conversations about mental health, perfectionism, and highlight that nothing on social media is ever as it really seems. It’s great to see that many brands are speaking out about self-esteem in the social media age, and our campaign is also underpinned by a serious message about women’s mental health. One of the key challenges in this area is people are not getting help early enough. Early mental health diagnosis is proven to significantly improve outcomes.”

Nicola Harris, Executive Producer at CONTENTED led the production on the project. “This has been such a fulfilling project to work on. From its inception the team and I really connected with the stories and the idea of being honest about how you feel, and the expectations put on women. Truly inspiring to work with so many talented women to produce this powerful work both here at CONTENTED and at Bupa. I really hope that when women see this campaign, they will share their own unfiltered stories”.

Creative credits: 

Client: Bupa UK

Director: Lauren Midwinter

Director of Photography: Natasha Duursma

Executive Creative Director: Paul Reid

Creative: Zoe Dunn

Executive Producer: Nicola Harris

Producer: Amy Brown

Editor: Duda Rodrigues

Casting Director: Hannah Marie Williams

Post-production: CONTENTED

VFX and Grade: Lucky Cat Post Production 

Source: Bupa UK

  #PowerfulRealStories, BUPA UK, Contented, Helen Bruce, Nicola Harris