Ancestry
The Parity Principle
New research by Ancestry found that fewer than one in five of the historical figures named in UK secondary school textbooks are women.
As a result BF Media was asked to support the launch of The Parity Principle, a new approach to gender representation in historical accounts inspired by the Bechdel Test. Ancestry brought this to life by creating a large installation at Potters Field Park on London’s South Bank, where they shared the stories of 25 women who influenced British history but were left out of official records.
Our task was to secure as much broadcast coverage as possible for the launch. However we had a challenge: how do you get the rest of the UK invested in a campaign built around a single London installation?
The Result
Pieces of Coverage
Pieces of TV
Reach
A National Story, Told 25 Local Ways
In order to do this, rather than pitching one single angle, we built the campaign around the women themselves. We focused on the home town of each of the 25 women mentioned in the text and used this to pitch their story to their individual regional stations.
Giving Every Region Its Own Local Figure
The approach was a success: stations messaged back asking to talk about the women connected to their own area. Dr Amy Boyington, historian and creator of the Parity Principle, was briefed to focus each conversation on the woman that station had asked for. She was joined for a number of these interviews by Dr Jennifer Doyle, Family History Expert at Ancestry, who brought the genealogy angle to listeners.
One Shoot, Six Regional Stories
We secured shared content across six regions for ITV. On launch day at Potters Field Park, we worked alongside the client to film Dr Amy Boyington discussing a different woman for each region, giving every version of the package its own locally relevant lead. Alongside Amy was Selina Vickers, great-grand niece of pioneering Edwardian physician Dr Annie Hyatt, who appeared on camera as a real descendant, bringing one of those forgotten stories to life.
