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Mother’s Day is an incredibly special, heartwarming, fulfilling day for the majority of women and their children across the world. Us as children are encouraged to reflect on and post about how much our moms do for us, how much they’ve given up for us, care for us, love us, and moms can't wait to share videos and pics of questionable portraits, or a breakfast-in-bed of questionable-looking pancakes, bursting with pride and unconditional love.
As a society, we have also started to broaden who we celebrate on this special day by broadening our definition of what it means to be a ‘mother’. Foster moms, aunties, grandmothers, mentors, family members and friends who have stepped into a motherly role.
Mother’s Day brings a sense of unity as moms (in whatever form) share, see and hear all those relatable, beautiful mother-child stories, and all moms and mother figures across the country feel special, appreciated, loved, grateful and proud.
However, the idea behind #momworthy came from a simple observation: Whilst our socials are flooded with images and videos from all types of mothers bursting with pride, love, celebration, there is a huge group of women that unfortunately don’t experience the same emotions. For them, Mother's Day is a trigger of one of the most traumatic things a mother can go through.
Approximately 10 - 20% of all known pregnancies end in miscarriage. That’s 1 in 4 or 5 women.
18% of first pregnancies in South Africa result in a first-trimester miscarriage.
A study in the SA Medical Journal (SAMJ) found that 14.6% of women in a large national survey had experienced at least one adverse outcome, including miscarriage or stillbirth.
The "12-week rule" is strongly observed, meaning many women experience loss before they’ve even told anyone they were pregnant, leading to profound isolation.
70% said they felt intense guilt. This is often exacerbated by cultural beliefs that view pregnancy as a “test of womanhood”.
79% reported that their bodies ‘failed’ to sustain life, leading to diminished self-esteem.
85% didn’t think people understood what they had gone through.
67% feel unable to talk to friends and family as they felt uncomfortable discussing the event, contributing to loneliness.
35% struggle to talk to partners: Local research notes that while partners are often the primary support, men in South Africa may "adopt a support role" rather than expressing their own grief, which can create a communication gap.
These women should never feel alone. There are so many women that have gone through the same thing and it is nothing to feel guilty about.
Through this campaign, we aimed to show these women that they are not alone, they can speak about their loss, and that they will be heard and supported.
We need to change the stigma that surrounds miscarriage and starts with opening up the conversation.
They deserve as much love and support on Mother’s Day as any other mother.
They are #momworthy!
#momworthy, a campaign created by People Have Influence , and backed by our community of creators, was created to rally support, challenge the status quo and spark conversation. This project was built with the intention to normalise sharing your experience, so no one has to feel alone.
From the beginning, the approach was intentionally kept simple: Use People Have Influence’s existing social platforms to introduce the topic, share supporting statistics, and provide helpful resources. Following this, we then leveraged our influencer network, and asked women to amplify, support and even share their own experiences. The aim was to create a space for women to share their own stories.
A key part of this approach was how the campaign came together in the first place. Rather than handpicking creators purely based on reach, the campaign was opened up to those who felt connected to its purpose and wanted to be involved. Across the campaign, we partnered with over 200 creators, reaching a combined audience of 1.3m. What followed wasn’t just content going live but a wave of conversation that unfolded across feeds, comment sections and personal messages, each person adding depth to the campaign in their own way.
The content that came from collaborators built a collection of individual reflections shared across different communities. Each form of participation carried its own value, contributing to a broader sense of shared support.
A selection of content went live in collaboration with P.H.I.’s own Instagram. These collaborations ensured that the campaign lived not only through individual creators, but also within a broader ecosystem of purpose-led storytelling.
From a performance perspective, the campaign generated over 330,012 organic impressions and achieved an engagement rate of 4.07% (higher than the general industry average). While these metrics indicate strong reach and interaction, they are most meaningful when viewed alongside the nature of the content itself.
What stood out was not only the scale of engagement, but the consistency of response across different creators and posts. This meant the message didn’t depend on one post or one voice. Instead, it showed up in lots of different ways, with each creator adding their own take on the same idea.
Audience response played an important role in understanding the impact of the campaign. Across posts, engagement moved beyond surface level interaction and into more personal forms of response.
We found that a consistent thread through the sentiment was recognition. Rather than simply liking and agreeing with the content, audiences often responded by relating to it on a personal level. This created a sense of shared understanding across comments and conversations, achieving the main purpose of the campaign as a whole.
Given the sensitivity of this campaign, we wanted insight into how our partnering creators felt about the campaign and the experience of working with P.H.I. on a campaign like this. A common theme being that it felt different from typical branded work, not because it was more complicated, but because they were given space to approach it in their own way.
What stood out in the audience responses, especially the deeper conversations that followed, was just how important it is to let creators have full autonomy when sharing sensitive or emotional stories.
The success of #momworthy was not driven by a single factor, but rather a combination of timing, relatability, creator fit and storytelling approach. The timing of the campaign around Mother’s Day played a key role, as audiences were already in a reflective emotional space, which made them more receptive to nuanced storytelling.
Relatability was equally important. The content was grounded in real experiences, audiences were able to connect with it quickly and personally, which naturally encouraged engagement and sharing. Creator fit also played a major role, as working with trusted voices ensured that the content felt native to each community rather than imposed on it.
One of the key learnings from #momworthy is that audiences are increasingly drawn to content that reflects real experiences rather than idealised narratives. When storytelling feels authentic, engagement tends to follow more naturally, not because it is engineered, but because it resonates.
Another important take away is the value of creator expression. When creators are trusted to communicate in their own voice, especially on sensitive topics, the work becomes more meaningful and often more impactful than heavily controlled messaging.
Finally, the campaign reinforced that influence is not only about reach, but about relevance and connection. The most effective campaigns are not always the loudest or most visible, but the ones that feel true to the people experiencing them.
#momworthy did not attempt to take away the celebration of Mother's Day. Instead, it opened a space for all women to feel seen, supported and worthy of celebration regardless of circumstance. The response to the campaign reminded us that for many moms, being seen matters just as much as being celebrated. Sometimes the most powerful stories are the ones that simply make someone feel less alone.
Mother’s Day is an incredibly special, heartwarming, fulfilling day for the majority of women and their children across the world. Us as children are encouraged to reflect on and post about how much our moms do for us, how much they’ve given up for us, care for us, love us, and moms can't wait to share videos and pics of questionable portraits, or a breakfast-in-bed of questionable-looking pancakes, bursting with pride and unconditional love.
As a society, we have also started to broaden who we celebrate on this special day by broadening our definition of what it means to be a ‘mother’. Foster moms, aunties, grandmothers, mentors, family members and friends who have stepped into a motherly role.
Mother’s Day brings a sense of unity as moms (in whatever form) share, see and hear all those relatable, beautiful mother-child stories, and all moms and mother figures across the country feel special, appreciated, loved, grateful and proud.
However, the idea behind #momworthy came from a simple observation: Whilst our socials are flooded with images and videos from all types of mothers bursting with pride, love, celebration, there is a huge group of women that unfortunately don’t experience the same emotions. For them, Mother's Day is a trigger of one of the most traumatic things a mother can go through.
Approximately 10 - 20% of all known pregnancies end in miscarriage. That’s 1 in 4 or 5 women.
18% of first pregnancies in South Africa result in a first-trimester miscarriage.
A study in the SA Medical Journal (SAMJ) found that 14.6% of women in a large national survey had experienced at least one adverse outcome, including miscarriage or stillbirth.
The "12-week rule" is strongly observed, meaning many women experience loss before they’ve even told anyone they were pregnant, leading to profound isolation.
70% said they felt intense guilt. This is often exacerbated by cultural beliefs that view pregnancy as a “test of womanhood”.
79% reported that their bodies ‘failed’ to sustain life, leading to diminished self-esteem.
85% didn’t think people understood what they had gone through.
67% feel unable to talk to friends and family as they felt uncomfortable discussing the event, contributing to loneliness.
35% struggle to talk to partners: Local research notes that while partners are often the primary support, men in South Africa may "adopt a support role" rather than expressing their own grief, which can create a communication gap.
These women should never feel alone. There are so many women that have gone through the same thing and it is nothing to feel guilty about.
Through this campaign, we aimed to show these women that they are not alone, they can speak about their loss, and that they will be heard and supported.
We need to change the stigma that surrounds miscarriage and starts with opening up the conversation.
They deserve as much love and support on Mother’s Day as any other mother.
They are #momworthy!
#momworthy, a campaign created by People Have Influence , and backed by our community of creators, was created to rally support, challenge the status quo and spark conversation. This project was built with the intention to normalise sharing your experience, so no one has to feel alone.
From the beginning, the approach was intentionally kept simple: Use People Have Influence’s existing social platforms to introduce the topic, share supporting statistics, and provide helpful resources. Following this, we then leveraged our influencer network, and asked women to amplify, support and even share their own experiences. The aim was to create a space for women to share their own stories.
A key part of this approach was how the campaign came together in the first place. Rather than handpicking creators purely based on reach, the campaign was opened up to those who felt connected to its purpose and wanted to be involved. Across the campaign, we partnered with over 200 creators, reaching a combined audience of 1.3m. What followed wasn’t just content going live but a wave of conversation that unfolded across feeds, comment sections and personal messages, each person adding depth to the campaign in their own way.
The content that came from collaborators built a collection of individual reflections shared across different communities. Each form of participation carried its own value, contributing to a broader sense of shared support.
A selection of content went live in collaboration with P.H.I.’s own Instagram. These collaborations ensured that the campaign lived not only through individual creators, but also within a broader ecosystem of purpose-led storytelling.
From a performance perspective, the campaign generated over 330,012 organic impressions and achieved an engagement rate of 4.07% (higher than the general industry average). While these metrics indicate strong reach and interaction, they are most meaningful when viewed alongside the nature of the content itself.
What stood out was not only the scale of engagement, but the consistency of response across different creators and posts. This meant the message didn’t depend on one post or one voice. Instead, it showed up in lots of different ways, with each creator adding their own take on the same idea.
Audience response played an important role in understanding the impact of the campaign. Across posts, engagement moved beyond surface level interaction and into more personal forms of response.
We found that a consistent thread through the sentiment was recognition. Rather than simply liking and agreeing with the content, audiences often responded by relating to it on a personal level. This created a sense of shared understanding across comments and conversations, achieving the main purpose of the campaign as a whole.
Given the sensitivity of this campaign, we wanted insight into how our partnering creators felt about the campaign and the experience of working with P.H.I. on a campaign like this. A common theme being that it felt different from typical branded work, not because it was more complicated, but because they were given space to approach it in their own way.
What stood out in the audience responses, especially the deeper conversations that followed, was just how important it is to let creators have full autonomy when sharing sensitive or emotional stories.
The success of #momworthy was not driven by a single factor, but rather a combination of timing, relatability, creator fit and storytelling approach. The timing of the campaign around Mother’s Day played a key role, as audiences were already in a reflective emotional space, which made them more receptive to nuanced storytelling.
Relatability was equally important. The content was grounded in real experiences, audiences were able to connect with it quickly and personally, which naturally encouraged engagement and sharing. Creator fit also played a major role, as working with trusted voices ensured that the content felt native to each community rather than imposed on it.
One of the key learnings from #momworthy is that audiences are increasingly drawn to content that reflects real experiences rather than idealised narratives. When storytelling feels authentic, engagement tends to follow more naturally, not because it is engineered, but because it resonates.
Another important take away is the value of creator expression. When creators are trusted to communicate in their own voice, especially on sensitive topics, the work becomes more meaningful and often more impactful than heavily controlled messaging.
Finally, the campaign reinforced that influence is not only about reach, but about relevance and connection. The most effective campaigns are not always the loudest or most visible, but the ones that feel true to the people experiencing them.
#momworthy did not attempt to take away the celebration of Mother's Day. Instead, it opened a space for all women to feel seen, supported and worthy of celebration regardless of circumstance. The response to the campaign reminded us that for many moms, being seen matters just as much as being celebrated. Sometimes the most powerful stories are the ones that simply make someone feel less alone.
We’d love to hear from you. For any enquiries, questions or conversations, feel free to contact us.
