{"id":20812,"date":"2024-02-05T08:43:40","date_gmt":"2024-02-05T08:43:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mediashower.com\/blog\/?p=20812"},"modified":"2024-02-05T08:43:40","modified_gmt":"2024-02-05T08:43:40","slug":"marketing-that-empowers-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/marketing-that-empowers-women\/","title":{"rendered":"Marketing That Empowers Women: The Always #LikeaGirl Campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unfortunately, doing something \u201clike a girl\u201d has been an insult for a long time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cYou throw like a girl.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cYou run like a girl.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And, paired with the difficulties of growing up, it can weigh on young women in ways we may not realize.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2014, feminine products company Always launched an awareness campaign across TV and social media, busting these stereotypes across social media using the hashtag #LikeAGirl.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In these ads, young women athletes were presented to show how all these activities, and more, were exactly what a girl <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">would <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">do. And in doing so, they aligned the Always brand with their core market in an open, supportive, and empowering way.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dxrPeFKtUwQ?si=Z0vzlPvCyPyaMLpz\" width=\"780\" height=\"438\" frameborder=\"&quot;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Depicting, Then Busting, The Stereotype<\/h2>\n<p>The primary video for this campaign opens with young men and women being brought onto a soundstage and asked to perform various actions \u201clike a girl.\u201d These actions are typically awkward, flamboyant, insecure: in other words, stereotypically \u201cfeminine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This is familiar territory for filmmaker Lauren Greenfield. By 2014, she\u2019d made several successful documentaries and photographic records of young women on topics like money and eating disorders. Now, she helmed a campaign for Always to ask what it really means to do something \u201cLike a Girl.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The responses to her questions range from ambivalent, saying they\u2019re not sure if it\u2019s a good or bad thing, and one of the older girls noting that it\u2019s a blow to her self-confidence. One of the boys in the video is asked if what he did is an insult to his sister, which he emphatically denies before considering it and saying that maybe, by mistake, he did.<\/p>\n<p>A title card comes up, stating plainly that a young woman\u2019s self-reported confidence plummets during puberty.<\/p>\n<p>The video then shifts to a montage of female athletes showing off their skills, from martial arts to volleyball, overlaid with a subject making the point that they do things \u201clike a girl\u201d because they are one. Raising the tone with upbeat music, the video ends on a high note with a list of next steps.<\/p>\n<p>Always broke stereotypes about its industry as well with this campaign\u2013which was not unlike the brand. For those of us who don\u2019t remember, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=jSlcIBAdZ1o\">they were also famous for using commercials featuring pads splashed with blue water to show absorbency.<\/a> Their frankness around women\u2019s issues was necessary and refreshing, and this ad campaign continued that trend.<\/p>\n<h2>Juxtaposing Stereotypes vs. Reality<\/h2>\n<p>Although #LikeaGirl was a massive brand campaign spanning many media channels, the video is perhaps the most famous part.<\/p>\n<p>The video uses a montage, opening with subjects primarily in middle grades, between 10 and 12, being interviewed. They\u2019re not prompted or cued; they\u2019re asked simple questions and allowed to speak freely.<\/p>\n<p>This is carefully structured, so that the contrast is evident as you see older girls showing off their extensively trained skills. Nobody in the video is recognizable as a professional athlete, yet they know what they\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n<p>This juxtaposition connects the brand to their intended audience by showing that the female body doesn\u2019t conform to stereotypes. By juxtaposing those two ideas, the audience understands that all these bodies need the products that Always offers. In many ways, it is a great equalizer that draws the audience in through recognition and identification.<\/p>\n<h2>Using Different Channels to Reach Different Audiences<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-20815 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/girl-playing-golf-marketing-by-22always22.jpg\" alt=\"girl playing golf - marketing by always\" width=\"780\" height=\"508\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/girl-playing-golf-marketing-by-22always22.jpg 780w, https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/girl-playing-golf-marketing-by-22always22-300x195.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/girl-playing-golf-marketing-by-22always22-768x500.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-20817\" src=\"http:\/\/mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/girl-playing-basketball-marketing-by-always.jpg\" alt=\"girl playing basketball - marketing by always\" width=\"780\" height=\"348\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/girl-playing-basketball-marketing-by-always.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/girl-playing-basketball-marketing-by-always-300x134.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/girl-playing-basketball-marketing-by-always-1024x457.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/girl-playing-basketball-marketing-by-always-768x343.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The #LikeAGirl campaign began on social media, before shifting toward a more formal ad campaign. The difference is extremely powerful. In the social banners, we see something akin to a magazine ad: a single image showing a young girl playing a sport or standing proud. These images resonate in a way that doesn\u2019t call for video or motion.<\/p>\n<p>However, social media was still integral, as you can see at the end of the video. Without the ability to connect movement, voice, action, and linear storytelling, we also miss out on the more profound message of the campaign\u2013one that is important to Always and their audience alike.<\/p>\n<p>Marketers talk a lot about omnichannel marketing, and in some cases, this is used as a stand-in for running ads on different platforms. But truly leveraging different media and platforms unlocks new ways to engage with audiences. This, in turn, provides a much more persuasive \u201coomph,\u201d in terms of emotional effectiveness or even simple recognition.<\/p>\n<p>What stands out about these ads is they\u2019re both optimistic and immediate. As the video inspired young women, they could act on it right away by retweeting #LikeaGirl.<\/p>\n<p>Always kept up that momentum by releasing a series of videos, including presentations by respected authors such as Rachel Simmons, short films created by young girls, profiles of female athletes, and even charity work with organizations like UNESCO.<\/p>\n<h2>Connecting With a Core Audience<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.always.com\/en-us\/about-us\/our-epic-battle-like-a-girl\">The #LikeAGirl campaign<\/a> continued until 2018, with a sequel video showing girls smashing whiteboards with their supposed limitations written on them. There was also a campaign to add more female emojis to the ones available on phones, and another focused on encouraging girls to stick with sports instead of dropping out early in high school.<\/p>\n<p>Throughout, the campaign stuck to its tenets of honesty and acceptance. And it still serves as an excellent reminder to think about what we say and how we say it, a core lesson for any communicator.<\/p>\n<p>Some additional lessons for communicators from the #LikeAGirl campaign include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Show, don\u2019t tell<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span>Demonstrate the effects of the behavior or words you highlight in your communications.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Use contrast <\/b>to help your audience see the difference between positive and negative approaches to a topic.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Mix personal anecdotes <\/b>with data that reflects larger trends to make your point.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Give your audience an immediate, positive step they can take<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span>such as a social media hashtag, that can help raise awareness and drive the conversation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p>At Media Shower, we\u2019ve helped over 500 companies produce over 100,000 marketing messages that land with their intended audience. Click for a free trial and make <a href=\"https:\/\/mediashower.com\/blog\/ai-generate-blog-topics\/?__mscta=3319_99364_35\">Better. Content. Faster.<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mediashower.com\/blog\/ai-generate-blog-topics\/?__mscta=3319_99364_35\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-20584 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/3-1.png\" alt=\"CTA better content faster\" width=\"680\" height=\"240\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/3-1.png 680w, https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/3-1-300x106.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Always\u2019 #LikeAGirl campaign tackles gender stereotypes and how they affect girls in a way that encourages the audience to be more thoughtful about how they use language.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":20813,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[459],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20812"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/113"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20812"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20819,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20812\/revisions\/20819"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}