I am often reminded of the incredibly powerful community that exists within WeAre8. A community centred around building up others, recognising our collective impact and using that power to make change on a global scale.

Alongside our amazing community, our Sustainable Ad Manager (SAM-i) offers brands a unique opportunity to connect with a highly engaged audience. In the last few months, Nike became one of the latest brands to launch on our platform, telling the story of their commitment to mental health in the BAME community, in association with Mindshare.

With every WeAre8 campaign, our 8Citizens have the opportunity to let brands know what they think by responding to a short series of questions from the advertising brand. In a wonderful twist, instead of asking research-based questions after people watched their campaign video, Nike started by posing a simple, yet often forgotten question: “How are you feeling today?”

As a follow-up, Nike asked our 8Citizens: “What does strength mean to you?” Many told us that resilience and confidence represented strength, but there were a few citizens that went one step further, and shared incredibly compelling responses that are truly remarkable, and deserve to be shared. Here are some of my favourites:

Not backing away from an obstacle. The ability to change and recognise your own mistakes and failures, learn from them and LET THEM GO. Do not define yourself by your failures, but by the ability to overcome them and learn from them.

Strength is the ability to allow yourself to be weak at times, to open yourself to the world and enter into communion with it, which is true interaction. No masks, no pretending, no fear of admitting shortcomings. Be able to ask for help and allow yourself to be helped.

As a father of 2 girls, strength to me looks like a bald headed, bearded and tattooed man happily dressed as a fairy princess in public because it makes his girls happy. I get people crossing the road to walk away from me when I'm on my own, but when I'm with my family dressed like this, I get young lads laughing at me. I explain, ‘If you were strong enough, you'd be like this for your family too.’

Recognising our strength in numbers is incredibly important as we look to the crucial years ahead to save our precious planet. I am always so motivated by the authenticity of our community, and their willingness to be open and vulnerable in the safe space WeAre8 fosters, which is free from hate. The strength and resilience of our 8Citizens is something I am immensely proud of, and look forward to growing as we bring WeAre8 to an even bigger audience.

Be part of our community today and have your say. Download WeAre8 now and join the movement.

If you want to take your place among the industry-leading brands already seeing unprecedented results on WeAre8, get in touch with our sales team.