B&Q Women in Trades

Only 2% of tradespeople in the UK are women. B&Q’s own research showed that three-quarters of girls leaving school had never encountered a woman working in trades.

B&Q approached Sane Seven to collaborate on a campaign for the International Women’s day to make the case that women belong in trades.

We developed the full campaign concept and executed it in its entirety. The centrepiece was a branded lift — a physical structure built for the shoot — where ten tradeswomen were filmed as they ascended, answering unscripted questions about their careers, the barriers they’d faced, and what they’d tell the next generation. The lift was the argument made visible: as you rise, send it back down.

Alongside the tradeswomen, we filmed girls aged 6–12 helping to build the lift set alongside female role models, then interviewed them about how they saw hands-on work and what they already believed about who it was for.

The campaign ran across B&Q stores, social media, national press, and digital platforms. One social reel reached 37.5 million views and 41K likes. Total watch time: over seven years.