In 2014, "#LikeAGirl" was one of the biggest digital advertising success stories in the world. It went viral in just a few days, sparking a conversation and movement to change behaviour, propelling the Always brand to new heights.
Despite being the category leader and having had tremendous success with "#LikeAGirl," brands like U by Kotex and HelloFlo were becoming fierce competitors for Always and threatening its leadership position in the category. The brand needed to keep the conversation going and continue to establish itself as a brand leading the way forward for female empowerment.
The goals for the 2015 campaign were to surpass the 75 million views and total earned media achieved by "#LikeAGirl" and track an uplift in top-of-mind awareness for the Always brand.
During puberty, girls discover that society still boxes them into stigmatizing limitations. At a young age, girls don't feel limited, but once puberty comes along, the first milestone into womanhood, something changes as society's subtle definition of a girl's role becomes more rigid. Despite tremendous progress, society continues to set a confined definition of a woman's role through subtle messaging like "why don't you help your mom cook and let your brother help your dad put those shelves together."
These pressures then result in discouragement to try anything outside societal norms, limiting a girl's potential to discover her true strengths and passions. In fact, according to Always research, 72% of girls surveyed feel society limits them – especially during puberty – a time when their confidence plummets significantly.
If girls felt that society continued to box them in, we needed to help them break down those barriers, and invite them to "smash" the boxes of societal limitations. This is how "#LikeAGirl – Unstoppable" was born. On July 7th 2015, the brand, with the help of Leo Burnett, launched the "#Unstoppable" social video that brought this powerful call to action to girls (age 16 to 24) around the world.
Directed by award-winning documentarian Lauren Greenfield, the team asked girls of different ages a simple question: "Have you ever been told that because you're a girl, you should not do something?".
The girls universally answered with a resounding "yes!" They then asked them to write down on boxes the limitations that have held them back. As a response to their own declarations and passion to break free of their limitations, the team encouraged them to smash those boxes. Because being unstoppable starts with feeling confident of being the author of one's own choices.
The spot was launched across key social channels (YouTube, Facebook and Twitter) and was supported with PR and media activations in 27 global markets.
"#LikeAGirl – Unstoppable" was awarded the most viral video of July 2015 by AdAge and YouTube, surpassing "#LikeAGirl" views (75 million) within 34 days, with 82 million views and with a total view count of 100 million. In that same time period, we drove higher earned media impressions than "#LikeAGirl" with 1.6 billion earned media impressions, overcoming the 1.5 billion goal set by #LikeAGirl.
