2021 was the year of “no." The world cheered as powerful women like Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles said "no" to expectations, pressure, and their sponsors. Yet in real life, women are feeling more burnout, exhaustion, and pressure than ever. Why? Because our system still punishes women who say "no." From social stigma to losing out on pay and promotions, 2 in 3 women report experiencing negative outcomes when they say "no" at work.

Pure Leaf, the iced tea brand that says "no" to artificial ingredients and sweeteners, believes "no" is beautiful - and shouldn’t come with consequences.

This Women’s History Month, Pure Leaf’s objective was to make an impact and break through in earned by making it easier for women to say "no" at work. But in a moment where women were embracing "no," we discovered women already know how to say it. They simply can’t afford to.

The cost of saying “no” is just too high. This sparked a radically simple idea. While simultaneously championing her right to say ‘’no,’’ Pure Leaf would also cover the financial cost of saying it.

Introducing the “No” Grants, a ground-breaking new support system that covers the financial consequences of saying ‘’no.’’

To choose our grant amount, we built a first-of-its-kind econometric study linking a national survey with economic wages and employment data to quantify, for the very first time, the financial cost women face each time they say ‘’no’’ at work.

We found that women, especially women of color, lose up to $1,406.00 in future earning potential each time they say ‘‘no.”

To truly alleviate the cost of ‘‘no,’’ each grant covered that amount in full. Women could apply via mobile application, and in partnership with the SeekHer Foundation, every grant applicant received free support services.

To uncover the fiscal impact of “no” and validate the urgent need for the “No” Grants, a combination of survey and third party data were coupled with human capital analytics. First, we conducted a nation-wide online survey in November 2021 among 1,803 women aged 18-45 to understand which women have said “no” in the workplace, to what tasks, and when. This included a diverse range of women across occupations, ethnicities, income levels, and seniority levels.

Using data matching techniques, we then married this survey data about what women say “no” to with labor department data from 60k households across 10 years about their employment, unemployment, hours of work, earnings, and other demographic characteristics. Using labor economics techniques that identify the reasons for wage growth, we were able to measure the impact that saying “no” has on future women’s income and savings, while controlling for other factors.

The execution approach was simple: break through the media landscape to inspire women (especially the multicultural, lower-income women our study found to be at greatest risk of facing consequences for saying ‘‘no’’ at work) to apply for a grant.

To authentically ground and establish the grants, we partnered with Olympian Allyson Felix, who made headlines for telling Nike ‘‘no,’’ to produce an emotional anthemic spot, promoted across owned, paid, and earned channels, that illuminated the issue and called for applications.

To maximize awareness, we conducted embargoed outreach to targeted general news and consumer lifestyle outlets three weeks prior to launch. To reach the women of color most affected by this phenomenon, we also targeted multicultural outlets, including Siempre Mujer, Madame Noire, and Bronze Magazine. In February 2022, we held a virtual media day for Allyson, hosting interviews with Yahoo! Finance, CBS News, Fortune’s The Broadsheet, Well + Good, and SheKnows.

The “No” Grants immediately struck a cultural nerve, igniting editor interest and making women who want to say “no” in the workplace feel heard. As of April 2022, we generated:

>8.1B impressions and 366 editorial & social placements across general news, lifestyle, multicultural, food & beverage, and ad trade publications (including press release)

100% positive sentiment across campaign coverage

100% of coverage contained “No” Grants messaging

89% of initial launch coverage contained proprietary statistics

850+ grant applications and counting

We also saw a lift in brand health due to the success of The “No” Grants in culture:

+10% in top-of-mind awareness of Pure Leaf in Q1 2022

+38% in people who said Pure Leaf would be their first choice in iced teas in Q1 2022 as compared to Q1 2021

+11.7% buy rate among households who purchase Pure Leaf in Q1 2022 as compared to Q1 2021

Beyond business results, Pure Leaf is using its platform to advocate for cultural change. By the end of the year, 100 women will receive "No" Grants. And because this is just the first of many steps towards a world where women’s “no’s” are accepted in the workplace, Pure Leaf has also committed $1M over the next three years to support women who want to say "no" at work. With each of Pure Leaf’s commitments, we’re one step closer to a world where everyone agrees that "no” is beautiful.