In the UK the recent cultural conversation has centred around challenging and overcoming outdated cultural labels and stereotypes.

We encouraged River Island to join the cultural debate and take a stance against outdated labels.

The creative idea was ‘labels are for clothes, not the people who wear them.’

The creative idea provided us with a unique language, referencing the laundry language on care labels sewn into River Island (and other) garments. A language the brand could own and that reflected its playful tone of voice while at the same time not demeaning what was a serious issue and meaningful cultural debate.

We launched the Labels are for Clothes campaign on February 5th, 2018 across TV, VOD, Cinema, Press, Outdoor, Digital, Social and all of River Island’s owned platforms including onsite and in-store.

The online films were launched specifically on River Island's owned platforms, including River Island's site, Facebook, Instagram and You Tube. Each character also posted their film across their personal social channels.

We got people talking about gender in its widest form including the negative labels some women have to combat - size, race, culture and sexuality. The campaign so far has generated 56 million earned impressions and the message has travelled across the shores of the UK.

The earned media has increased River Island’s share of voice by 7% surpassing the number 1 and 2 brands in the category. All social platforms have surpassed benchmarks and click through rates for River Island customers were 58% higher than average, showing the brand’s audience was highly engaged.

Most importantly we got people talking and having a gender debate that needs to be had.

River Island has decided based on the success of the campaign to continue with taking a stance on outdated gender labels and other stereotypes, inspiring women to express their individuality and not succumb to gender labelling or other negative stereotypes.