“Find Your Best Self on the Water” director Fern Berresford’s new spot for the non-profit Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation aka RBFF’s latest national Take Me Fishing™ campaign created in open collaboration with creatives at Colle McVo. debuts. A feel-good fishing-inspired spot, “Find Your Best Self on the Water” marks Berresford’s first U.S.-based shoot and commercial work since joining the roster at Rakish, as it highlights empowered women confidently casting their lines into the waters of life and finding their best selves.
“Find Your Best Self on the Water” was created in promotion of new research from Take Me Fishing™, a national brand from the non-profit Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation (RBFF), conducted in partnership with Ipsos, which showed that fishing provides positive psychological benefits for women, including promoting greater perseverance and grit, The Take Me Fishing™ 2023 campaign comes just in time for Mental Health Awareness Month. Much has been written about the negative effects of modern life, especially social media, on the mental health and wellness of girls, and as the Take Me Fishing™ campaign suggests, fishing could offer girls a much-needed outlet. Additionally, almost half of female anglers do not feel respected by the broader angling community with more than 1 in 3 feeling stereotyped. This campaign aims to confront these barriers and inspire women everywhere to challenge themselves to try something new to help them find their best self while supporting a more inclusive fishing and boating environment. Working closely with the creatives at Colle McVoy, Berresford visually underscores the research.
Pulling from the witty script written by the agency, Berresford contributes to its subtle humor and whimsy weaves together vignettes of healthy, happy, and capable women of all ages who, after bouts of focused fishing, go on to crush it at the school science fair, make the game winning three-pointer, and even walk on the moon. Each vignette is bolstered by the poetic and awe-inspiring spoken word narration, which describes women as “forces of nature” who draw strength from the waters they fish.
Berresford’s tendency towards impactful visual storytelling gels with Rakish’s supercharged cinematic vision, as she experiments daringly with engaging characters and dynamic concepts that are saturated with social conscience. This triumphant Take Me Fishing™ campaign, with its swathes of beautifully-shot nature, engaging female portraiture, and adventurous mood, is no different.
“As with all of art, I think the more diversity and equality in the voices telling the stories the better,” said Berresford. “This spot is all about empowering and inspiring women to try something new, so the message resonated with me.”
Berresford is known for making commercials with creative and socially conscious concepts she feels connected to, particularly when it comes to women’s issues. In 2021, she created a spot for the UK domestic abuse nonprofit Women’s Aid, entitled “World’s Strongest Women,” which cleverly captured the stories of fierce women facing abuse. As it centers on female anglers, “It’s in the Water,” uses flourishes of tenacity and ambition to convey one central idea—women can achieve anything they put their minds to.
“Our creative goal for the project was to shoot a visually vibrant, exciting and enthralling narrative, told with a whimsical cinematic flare and a warm human touch to the performances,” said Berresford. “We wanted to show fishing from a fresh, imaginative perspective; placing a new set of heroines at the helm, with the aim of empowering and inspiring women across America to try something new, grab a rod and get out on the water.”
