Hilary Duff, ‘Cash Cab,’ and branded newspapers: How Ladder is communicating ‘stronger, not smaller’ to women

It might seem obvious for a strength-training app to pitch the benefits of strength training. But the conversation around women’s bodies, strength, and exercise is, unfortunately, often more nuanced than that.

For one, as Gen Z largely embraces trends from the early aughts, there’s a resurgence of messaging that skinny is “in” again. There are also common misconceptions around strength training, one of which is that it will make bodies bulky, which can deter some from trying it out.

Those narratives are things the strength-training app Ladder is seeking to address head-on. The company’s latest campaign, which uses the tagline “Stronger, not smaller,” stars an early-aughts icon, the actor and singer Hilary Duff, who tells viewers about the importance of strength in the 60-second hero ad: “I know a lot of women are intimidated by strength training, but it’s truly the secret to my results.” In another spot, which spans a little over four minutes and is designed to imitate a corporate compliance video, Duff busts myths about strength training.

“We’re trying to get ahead of that misinformation,” Philip Edsel, VP of brand and creative at Ladder, told us, adding that conversations around combating the return of “thin is in” messaging are common among senior female coaches at the company. “To have a partner like Hilary, who speaks so specifically to not only the millennials that were alive…[but is an] icon to the newer generation that’s seeing a lot of this on SkinnyTok or TikTok, I think was really powerful.”

In May during Miami Swim Week, the brand used out-of-home ads and branded zines touting the arrival of “Strong Girl Summer” to passersby to further the message. The company also worked with Cash Cab host Ben Bailey on Ladder Quiz Cab, a spin on the game show that had passengers answer questions about strength training for a chance to win money.

Finding a fun way to speak to women about misinformation about strength training makes sense for the brand, which has mostly women customers making up its 400,000 member base. “We are 80% to 85% women or female users, and then over 50% of those women are moms, so it’s a huge part of our member base,” Edsel said. “That message really resonates with them, and so that was a big part of it.”

Dory Ellis Garfinkle, CMO of brand consultancy Siegel+Gale, sees Ladder’s messaging as optimistic, which she believes helps it land.

“Restriction messaging is fundamentally pessimistic: It tells women what to subtract,” Ellis Garfinkle said in an email. “Strength messaging is a bet on what’s possible: what a body can do, carry, lift, become. That’s a completely different emotional contract with a customer. Brands that sell capability are selling optimism, and optimism is what breaks through in that industry.”