Always builds on the stunning marketing and behavioural change success of its 2014 ‘Like A Girl’ campaign with a Rio Olympic run up campaign that urges girls to ‘Keep Playing’ and stay passionate about sport.
Like its predecessor, this follow-up project tackles another bleak statistic as it aims to arrest the decline in athletic participation post-puberty.
According to Always’ research, 50% of girls stop sport by the end of puberty.
This Olympic-themed campaign from Procter & Gamble’s Always brand aims to encourage, not discourage girls from continuing to play sport, because if girls keep playing sports past puberty it can help their confidence.
The most recent “Always Confidence & Puberty Survey” found that 70% of girls ‘feel they don’t belong in sports’ and are ‘pressured to conform to societal expectations’, while a recent NHCS study found that women aged 18 to 24 are twice as likely to be confident if they play sports regularly than those who do not play at all!
So Always’ ‘Keep Playing’ features strong-willed young female athletes – from rugby players to weightlifters – defying the naysayers who have questioned their passion for their sports.
Developed with agency Leo Burnett, the campaign is led by a 60-second film created with documentary maker Nanette Burstein.
It continues to employ a social experiment strand (like Lauren Greenfield’s original ‘Like a Girl’ campaign – see case study), and follows girls playing sport in their own environment.
For the late June campaign launch, Always allied with US >soccer star Alex Morgan, who tweeted the new spot first.
Half of girls quit sports at puberty!? But sports keep them confident. Watch and #KeepPlaying #LikeAGirl #sponsored https://t.co/Xy5nm67VkG
— Alex Morgan (@alexmorgan13) 28 June 2016
While the ad itself – complete with copy reading ‘Always wants girls to keep girls playing, because sports keep girls confident. Show the world how you keep playing #Likeagirl’ – was posted on the brand’s own YouTube channel on 28 June
and amplified socially.
Half of girls quit sports, yet sports keep them confident. Join us & encourage girls to #KeepPlaying #LikeAGirl! https://t.co/LzS4Wpd4RZ
— Always (@Always) June 28, 2016
The campaign encourages viewers to upload a picture, shoot a video or tweet using #LikeAGirl and show the world how you keep playing #LikeAGirl.
At the launch event, Morgan shared her own tale of discouragement: ‘At age 13, one of my coaches told me that I wasn’t good enough. As a young girl just wanting to play and do my best, that was difficult to hear. It would have been easy for me to quit, but I wouldn’t be the confident person I am today if I had.’
‘The Olympic Games are a time when, all around the world, female sports participation is elevated in the public eye. And for that reason, we could not think of a better moment to drive awareness of the critical role sports play in building girls’ confidence,’ said Always associate director Michele Baeten.
Comment
The campaign’s evolution follows a predictable, but logical and emotional path.
Creatively, Always and its agency and partners have found fresh ways to make social experimentation and research data more visually compelling and tell powerful stories.
With 1.5m views on YouTube in its first 24 hours and, as on the eve of the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony it had notched up a staggering 20,717,679 YouTube views (with 2,633 thumbs up) and thousands of retweets of the campaign’s various assets and content pieces, plus a further 4m views on Facebook
Like stablemate Gillette’s Rio work (see case study), Always has rights to official Olympic marks under its parent company P&G’s global IOC worldwide partner deal.
P&G’s umbrella ‘Thank You Mum’ Olympic campaigns was launched back in April (see case study).
Links
Always Web:
http://always.com/en-us/about-us/our-…
Always YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/AlwaysBrand
Always Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/always
Always Twitter:
Always Instagram:
http://instagram.com/always-brand
Leo Burnett:
