The Challenge

As the leading medical cannabis clinic in the UK, Curaleaf Clinic needed to maintain that position with a social presence that led from the front and championed their patients, not just Curaleaf’s services. With the stigma of medical cannabis still high, our goal is to alleviate that shame among patients, being an ally for them in any hurdles they may face in their healthcare journey.

Despite medical cannabis being a viable treatment for conditions that disproportionately affect women, only 39% of Curaleaf’s patient base is female. This reflects the broader gender pain gap, where women’s pain is often dismissed or misdiagnosed, leading to delayed treatment. If women were experiencing this in the healthcare system, how would they ever be able to self advocate to find treatment to suit them?

The Solution

Painful Conversations: We developed a platform that was all about uncovering conversations that we felt only seemed to exist in private, and certainly not in the medical cannabis space. By surfacing these conversations, we wanted to show women that they weren’t alone in their experiences and that together, we can push for a more positive dialogue, and as a result, more positive healthcare.

The goal was not only to raise awareness of the gender pain gap but also to empower women to ask the right questions, seek alternative therapies like medical cannabis with confidence, and take charge of their health.

We got out on the street to prove the problem

We curated authentic narratives from real women we went out to meet on the streets of Great Britain. Working with advocates for women’s rights such as Ashley James to interview the public, we shot vox pop style videos that lifted the lid on the topics often experienced by women in private, aiming to eradicate the stigmas associated with health issues women rarely feel comfortable, or even safe enough, to discuss. The responses were sadly unsurprising, with many women experiencing pain and feeling unheard or misunderstood when they sought treatment. Our presenters ended the videos by giving women their tips for better health management, whichever route they might choose to go down.

Then we dived a bit deeper on medical cannabis and the pain gap

We then created a social-first documentary, designed to give influential women a safe, uncensored space to discuss medical cannabis freely and break the stigma surrounding it. 

Leading the documentary we chose Stevie Boebi, a bold and influential voice in the chronic pain community. She interviewed two remarkable advocates, Junior and Jameisha, who were both patients at Curaleaf. Their stories highlighted the profound challenges they faced due to the gender pain gap and how medical cannabis had become a vital part of their treatment journey.

The campaign kicked off with a creative, censored teaser video created by Stevie, showcasing the challenges of openly discussing medical cannabis on social media. This video sparked curiosity and directed the audience to Curaleaf’s platform for the full documentary, signaling that they had found a safe space to explore this topic further.

In the documentary, Stevie engaged in heartfelt conversations with Junior and Jameisha, diving deep into their experiences with chronic pain, the barriers women and non-binary people face in healthcare, and the challenges posed by censorship surrounding alternative therapies like medical cannabis. Junior shared their transformative journey with Curaleaf’s treatment, while Jameisha courageously spoke about the dismissal she experienced from traditional healthcare providers due to her gender.

Produced by The Fifth Agency’s in-house Studio 5, the documentary was designed to spread across multiple platforms, ensuring maximum reach. 

The Outcome

As a result of the campaign, we successfully brought the gender pain gap to the fore, with 67% of our audience agreeing that ‘the gender pain gap is a real and important conversation’.

When it came to reducing the stigma of medical cannabis, we saw further success. 71% of our audience (3.25m people) are now aware of medical cannabis as a safe and legal treatment. On top of that, 69% (3.16m people) said they felt confident to explore medical cannabis as a treatment if needed. 

The lively discussion in the comments section demonstrated the campaign’s impact. Women shared their personal experiences, praised the creators for addressing the topic, and expressed frustration that these issues still need to be discussed. Using our AI measurement partner, we analysed the emotions provoked by the campaign and were pleased to find that our audience felt increased knowledge and inspiration, alongside anger and anxiety due to the provocative nature of the topic. Ultimately, we achieved our goal: encouraging women to open up and find the confidence to advocate for themselves.