Submitted by Hoopla MarketingAgency IPI Score 31/100

Natural Is Enough

Influencer Marketing

Hoopla Marketing supported WADA's EU co-funded campaign against anabolic steroid use, with natural fitness creators in four countries telling their own body-image stories.

7.2Mvideo views
2.6Mreach
82Kengagements
16pieces of content created

Case in 60 seconds

Anabolic steroid use is rising among young people in gyms across Europe, driven by body standards set on the same social platforms where they spend their time, and institutional health warnings do not reach them.

WADA identified the root cause as an individual's belief that they are not enough, not big enough, not strong enough, not fast enough, so the campaign had to answer that belief rather than list risks.

Natural Is Enough, a natural training movement led by fitness creators who train naturally and are willing to talk about their own insecurity.

Seven creators in the UK, Spain, Germany and France published unscripted personal stories on Instagram and TikTok, invited followers to post workout content under #NaturalIsEnough and pointed them to the WADA site, with paid social behind the creator activity.

The campaign launched on 20 November 2023 with EU co-funding, and the agency reports 16 pieces of content, 7.2M video views, 2.6M reach and 82K engagements.

Strategy Breakdown

Young people aged 15 to 24 across Europe, particularly those training in gyms and exposed to fitness content that presents chemically assisted physiques as natural.
The channel that motivates young people to train is the same channel that sets a standard many cannot reach without drugs, and creators who use steroids in secret keep that standard in place.
An anti-doping regulator is a distant institution to a 17 year old in a gym, and warnings from that kind of source are routinely discounted by the audience they are aimed at.
WADA moved from policing elite sport to a public health role, funding and convening the message rather than delivering it in its own voice.
Steroid use is driven by a belief about the self rather than by a lack of information about risk, so reassurance from a credible peer does more than a list of side effects.

Creative & Execution System

Assets & channels

  • Instagram posts and reels from the creators, tagged with the WADA account
  • TikTok videos in English and German
  • Paid social amplification of the creator activity
  • Referral traffic to the WADA website

Partners

  • Hoopla Marketing
  • World Anti-Doping Agency
  • European Union, co-funder
  • Carlos Alix, Spain
  • Lucy Davis, UK
  • Julian Franklin, Germany
  • Oyinda Okunowo, UK
  • Lucy Reeves, UK
  • Ollie Rhoda, UK
  • Alex Villani, France

Participation mechanic

  • Followers invited to post their own workout content using #NaturalIsEnough
  • Creators directing followers to the WADA site for detail on the risks of steroid use
  • Personalised invitations and detailed creative briefs issued to each creator

Creator role

  • Telling unscripted personal anecdotes about their own body doubts and natural training
  • Naming the physical and mental risks of steroid use in their own words
  • Recruiting followers into the natural training movement

Results & Evidence

MetricValue
Creators Activated7
Markets CoveredUK, Spain, Germany, France
Pieces of Content Created16
Video Views7.2M
Reach2.6M
Engagements82K
Likes, Lucy Reeves Instagram Post6,913
Likes, Lucy Davis Instagram Post6,723
Likes, Oyinda Okunowo Instagram Post3,792
Likes, Carlos Alix Instagram Post918
Ollie Rhoda TikTok Engagement Counter33.4K
Julian Franklin TikTok Engagement Counter20.2K

Why Hoopla Marketing's strategy worked

  1. 1

    Answering the belief that drives the behaviour, that the individual is not enough, gave the campaign a proposition a health warning could not deliver.

  2. 2

    Casting creators who train naturally made the messenger the evidence, which matters in a category where the audience assumes physiques are chemically assisted.

  3. 3

    Asking creators for unscripted personal doubt rather than a scripted warning produced content the audience would watch by choice.

  4. 4

    The hashtag turned viewers into participants, the only realistic route to reach beyond a fixed public sector budget.

  5. 5

    Running the same idea through local creators in four countries and two languages kept a European message specific in each market.

  6. 6

    Pointing every post at the WADA site gave the campaign a destination for anyone who wanted the detail behind the message.

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