https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjJQBjWYDTs
April 24th, 2015
Case Study: Always’ #LikeAGirl Campaign
In June of 2014, Always launched a new campaign geared toward the mission of building confidence in girls, especially as they reach and go through puberty. Procter and Gamble (P&G), the umbrella-company of Always, found through its market research that only 19 percent of girls in its target demographic had a positive association with the phrase, ‘like a girl’ (P&G, 2014). Discovering this, P&G teamed up with documentarian Lauren Greenfield to conduct a social experiment. Greenfield conducted a small scale of the experiment on her two sons of different ages, and discovered that they had entirely different responses to the command of doing something ‘like a girl.’ Her older son responded in a mocking way that she believes could be attributed to the way that society portrays the female gender. More interestingly, her younger son had not yet picked up on these stereotypes, which led her to conclude that these beliefs set in sometime during puberty (Greenfield, 2014). Conveniently, Always has been involved with puberty education throughout its existence as a brand, and took advantage of this opportunity to connect and show support to an upcoming generation of clientele (P&G, 2014).
Research and Data Collection
Research for this ad was generated through a study entitled “Always Puberty and Confidence” (P&G, 2014). Within the study, more than half of the girls claimed to experience a drop in confidence at puberty. It was also found that girls experience their moments of lowest confidence around the same time they get their first period, an extremely important statistic for Always, given its product line.
Their quantitative data found that 89 percent of females in Always’ target demographic (16-24 years old) agreed that words could be harmful, especially to girls. Eighty-one percent had a negative association with the phrase, ‘Like a girl.’ Finally, 57 percent of females thought there should be a movement to change the negative perception behind the phrase, and four out of every five proclaimed that they would support Always in creating a movement to change that negative perception (P&G, 2014).
Description of Video
The viral video entitled Like A Girl, directed by Greenfield, was both sobering and inspiring as it revealed to the world just how deep-rooted sexism is in our society. The video begins with Greenfield asking a series of young women and men (post-pubescent) to “run/fight/throw like a girl.” They flail their arms, flip their hair and whine as they move vapidly around the set (YouTube, 2014). Greenfield shared in a Telegraph interview that her results with this specific part of the study were “surprisingly consistent” (Greenfield, 2014). Next they give the same command to a series of very young girls, who react to the command without the stigma that has so obviously influenced the older participants. The campaign then asks the audience, “When did doing something ‘Like a Girl’ become an insult?”
Greenfield continues by asking participants what they think when they hear the phrase, and gets a very different response from the separate age groups. The older participants, male and female, admit that they associate the phrase with weakness and humiliation, and this is a perspective the participants quickly realize they don’t want to maintain as soon as it’s pointed out. Greenfield shared, “The penny dropped…some got emotional and expressed disappointment and regret over their interpretation” (Greenfield, 2014).
The video debuted first on YouTube, and accumulated over 31 million views in one week (Greenfield, 2014). Recognizing the ad’s popularity, Always decided to purchase a spot for it on the 2015 Super Bowl commercial line-up. The commercial was one of the only directed toward a female audience that spoke for female empowerment—during one of the most male-dominated broadcasting days of the year. As the video gained popularity, the hashtag “#LikeAGirl” also gained speed on social media. Millions of women re-tweeted the hashtag alongside personal photographs of the things they’ve proudly accomplished. Among famous re-tweeters were Melinda Gates, Gloria Steinem, Chelsea Clinton, and Sarah Silverman (Greenfield, 2014).
Takeaway
Procter and Gamble’s chief financial officer Joe Moeller shared with Wall Street analysts that in just over one week after the airdate, the ‘Like a Girl’ advertisement generated 4.5 million ‘free impressions’ and he estimates that the ad reached 15 percent of its target consumers: women between the ages of 12 and 24 (Monk, WCPO). This means that it was shared and seen via social media at least 4.5 million times without Procter and Gamble spending anything on additional advertising. This type of free advertisement and publicity would have been impossible a decade ago, which shows that with the help of a catchy hashtag and the proper encouragement to use it, there’s no telling how far a marketing campaign can go.
When the ad premiered during the Super Bowl, it became the number one most tweeted-about commercial, with three times more tweets than the runner up. The #LikeAGirl ad was also the most discussed Super Bowl ad on Facebook, again, three times more popular than the second place runner up.
Even negative reactions to the advertisement ended up being good publicity for Always. A subgroup of self-proclaimed “Meninists” decided to lash out at the campaign as ‘unfair’ and began tweeting ‘#LikeABoy’ hashtags. This response drew more attention to the ad, which resulted in more conversation revolving around the importance of the message that Always was trying to send in the first place (Vagianos, 2015).
The video, however, can be chalked up to more than just social media buzz. According to a news release from Procter and Gamble, surveys showed that watching the ad did some good. Audience members were more than 50 percent more likely to “no longer view ‘like a girl’ as an insult,” while 81 percent of participants agreed that the video had the potential to change the way people think about stereotypes surrounding women’s physical abilities (P&G, 2014).
Most importantly, by taking the time to ask these questions and understand how girls are thinking, Always found a way to strategically cater to their values and beliefs. #LikeAGirl shows the power of a relatable hashtag, and the success that can come of a simple social experiment. They proved that using research to create each step of an ad campaign has the ability to spark meaningful conversation through many veins of society. Always was able to build an enormously successful ad campaign that spoke beyond its target audience and seemingly had a goal beyond marketing. Through this campaign, Always found a way to deeply connect with their consumers while inspiring men and women alike to think twice before speaking.
References:
- “Procter & Gamble.” New Social Experiment by Always® Reveals Harmful Impact Commonly Used Phrase Has on Girls. 26 June 2014. Web. 8 Apr. 2015. <http://news.pg.com/press-release/pg-corporate-announcements/new-social-experiment-always-reveals-harmful-impact-commonl>.
- “P&G UK and Ireland Newsroom.” Always® Releases New #LikeAGirl Video in Celebration of International Women’s Day. 3 Mar. 2015. Web. 8 Apr. 2015. <http://www.pgnewsroom.co.uk/press-release/global-news-releases/always-releases-new-likeagirl-video-celebration-international-wom>.
- Monk, Dan. “Selling ‘Like a Girl’ Pays off for Procter & Gamble Co. (PG).” WCPO. 23 Feb. 2015. Web. 8 Apr. 2015. <http://www.wcpo.com/money/local-business-news/selling-like-a-girl-pays-off-for-procter-gamble-co-pg>.
- Greenfield, Lauren. “At Last, There’s No Shame in Acting ‘like a Girl’.” The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 12 July 2014. Web. 8 Apr. 2015. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/10961856/At-last-theres-no-shame-in-acting-like-a-girl.html>.
- “Always #LikeAGirl.” YouTube. YouTube, 26 June 2014. Web. 8 Apr. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjJQBjWYDTs>.
- Vagianos, Alanna. “The Reaction To #LikeAGirl Is Exactly Why It’s So Important.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 3 Feb. 2015. Web. 8 Apr. 2015. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/03/why-like-a-girl-is-so-important_n_6598970.html>.