Objective
To launch the ‘Like A Girl’ campaign in India, two years after its global release. The movement ‘Like A Girl’ was originally launched by ‘Always – the global brand name for Whisper, outside India’ in the USA and select global markets in 2014 with an aim to turn the phrase ‘like a girl’ from an insult into a term of empowerment.
Solution/Execution
The phrase 'like a girl' has been around forever and is used in derogatory ways. In the wake of India’s success at the Rio Olympics 2016, the phrase ‘Like A Girl’ went through a positive transition and ensued heartening conversations such as - “They fought #LikeAGirl” or “They played #LikeAGirl”, but it was realized that there is still a long way to go before each and every girl can do things “Like A Girl” and be proud of it. Hence, it was time that the campaign strikes remarkable synergies with this resolve in India.
- Campaign Announcement and Survey Results Reveal We began with conducting a survey with over 1100 girls aged between 14 – 24 years across six metro cities in the country. The findings of the nationwide survey conducted by the brand in association with Nielson showed that: o 1 in 2 girls in India agree that the phrase ‘Like A Girl’ is still used as an insult o 7 in 10 girls in India feel pressurized to conform to the way a girl is supposed to feel and act, after having reached puberty o 6 in every 10 girls in India become less involved in sports activities on reaching puberty o Nearly half of the Indian girls feel that the phrase like a girl is mainly used to put boys down and about 1 in every 2 girls in India believe that the phrase "Like A Girl" is hurtful and is a form of bullying The brand released a moving video to empower girls to reclaim the phrase, and proudly continue doing things ‘Like A Girl’. We announced the campaign through the video release and shared the survey results through PAN India press release dissemination for which we leveraged strong voices of the Indian film fraternity.
- #LikeAGirl & Proud Challenge Announcement Taking this a step further, we announced the commencement of the ‘Whisper #LikeAGirl & Proud’ digital challenge at a media event held in Mumbai. To spread the message of the movement, we effectively created innovative photo opportunities such as brand influencers doing pull ups and the#LikeAGirl reveal by the influencers, to create a long lasting effect in the minds of media and the masses. The event culminated with the brand’s influencers announcing the ‘#LikeAGirl & Proud Challenge’ which was open to all the girls in the country with a message to take Pride in being a girl and display how they can do anything that they love proudly #LikeAGirl, by sharing a short video or picture doing anything that they have been previously discouraged to do, only because they are girls.
- Strategic Implementation of Digital Engagement - #LikeAGirl & Proud Challenge The media event was followed by successful digital engagement and challenge participation through an association with Chtrbox. In a span of two weeks, over 3000 girls across the country came forward in support of the #LikeAGirl campaign by participating in the digital challenge, including popular influencers.. Each of them showcased activities they have proudly done #LikeAGirl across their social media platforms through videos and images.
RESULTS
- The #LikeAGirl campaign generated a total of 1240 million Impressions and total PR Media Worth of $ 4.8 Million USD
- Through successful digital engagement- (sharing of the #LikeAGirl video + participation of the Digital challenge) , the campaign garnered organic reach of 3.47 Million.
- Whisper India #LikeAGirl movement, designed to drive popularity, relevance, brand consideration and purchase intent among younger audience, has delivered strong results on equity fundamentals across the Path to Purchase cycle as follows:
- Awareness: +8 pts increase in top of mind awareness amongst those who are aware vs. unaware of the campaign.
- Engagement: 5.3 times increase in consumer engagement on Whisper India facebook page.
- Equity Scores: +4 pts increase in scores across key emotional equity attributes amongst those who are aware vs. unaware of the campaign o Champions and empowers women +7 pts o Brand that I trust +5 pts o Makes me feel confident +2 more
- The video campaign was recognized as the Most Engaging Campaign on Instagram across Asia Pacific by Campaign Asia and Unmetric.
- Created exceptionally large share of voice through strategically driven conversations across all media platforms.
- The hashtag #LikeAGirl was extensively shared across all media platforms.
Awards & Recognition
- Certificate of Excellence at the 2017 Sabre South Asia Awards for our ‘Like a Girl’ campaign for fem-care brand Whisper in the Superior Achievement in Research & Planning category under the Diamond Sabre Awards