Why Learning To Say I Did That Is Annoyingly One Of The Most Radical Things A Woman Can Do

Creative Boom: News Advertising Why learning to say 'I did that' is annoyingly one of the most radical things a woman can do Galaxy's new campaign tackles the deeply ingrained habit women have of downplaying their achievements. Creative Boom's Katy Cowan reflects on why this campaign hits close to home – and what a back injury taught her about the difference between modesty and erasure. Written By: Katy Cowan 19 March 2026 There's a question I couldn't have answered two years ago. Not because I didn’t know the answer, but because the act of saying it out loud felt somehow scary. The question is simple: what do you like about yourself?

I've been thinking about it a lot lately, partly because a campaign by Galaxy has just landed that puts this exact question at the heart of its creative strategy, and partly because a serious back injury gave me – of all things – the unexpected gift of an answer. In 2024, I was largely housebound following an injury that stopped me in my tracks. I'd spent 15 years building Creative Boom from a side project into a platform reaching over a million people a month, and suddenly I couldn't do much at all. What followed was one of the strangest, most clarifying periods of my life.

Stripped of the busyness and the relentless forward motion, I had to sit with myself. And slowly, carefully, I started to understand what I actually valued about who I was. I like my tenacity. And how I genuinely care about the people Creative Boom serves. I like my curiosity and taste, and my commitment to doing things properly. I like that I kept going when my world completely stopped and the floor became my friend. Writing those words still feels faintly transgressive, which is, of course, exactly the problem.

The campaign: confidence as a creative strategy Galaxy has unveiled The Unhumble Project, a campaign that tackles women's deeply ingrained reluctance to promote their achievements – and does something more interesting than simply raising awareness of the problem; it turns the insight into a practical tool. The centrepiece is a free online confidence training hub: a structured 15-minute course led by confidence coach and self-belief advocate Tiwalola Adebayo. It offers practical frameworks and exercises to help us unapologetically recognise our wins, communicate our value and take genuine pleasure in our achievements.

Developed by brand and impact agency Onward, in partnership with Young Women's Trust, the campaign taps into a wider cultural shift towards education as a form of engagement. Rather than another awareness-raising moment that quickly fades into the background, this one positions training itself as the creative response, turning a cultural truth into something women can actually use. The stat that anchors it all is striking: women are five times less likely to self-promote their achievements than men. Five times. F*ck a duck.

And yet most women reading that figure will immediately start making excuses for it – contextualising, softening, and explaining away. That instinct is precisely what the campaign is trying to disrupt. Galaxy's brand director Romi Mackiewicz puts it plainly: "Women have never lacked talent or achievement, but too often they feel they have to shrink their success to stay likeable.

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The campaign addresses a significant cultural issue while providing actionable insights for brand strategy professionals, making it impactful and relevant, though the concept of empowering women is not entirely new.