Evaluation of Always' #LikeAGirl Campaign
This was a project with a strict, and short, timeline. I was given the project on short notice and only had 3 hours from start to finish to complete and deliver my analysis. I was tasked with evaluating the #LikeAGirl campaign. All I was given was a link to the video you can find below. I then had to conduct independent research to delve deeper into the campaign as a whole.
Further information on the campaign can be found here.
Analysis
I will be analysing the Always “LikeAGirl” campaign. I will start off by talking about the target audience, key messaging, and objectives of the campaign from my point of view. I will then present a SWOT analysis looking at the internal strengths and weakness followed by external opportunities and threats of the campaign. I will then conclude by commenting on the effectiveness of the campaign as a whole, as I see it, as well as my thoughts on how it could be improved.
I found a lot of my information on the brand’s website which has a page devoted to the LikeAGirl campaign. It started with the YouTube video titled “Always #LIKEAGIRL”. The video was posted to YouTube on June 26th, 2014 and has over 61 million views. The main idea behind the video is showing how girls internalize the meaning of what it means to do something “like a girl” as a negative thing and trying to change that perception. This video however is just the start and the campaign unfolds over various other videos ranging from a behind-the-scenes talk with the director of the original video, Lauren Greenfield, to an interview with a female QB named Karlie Harman, as well as a couple more recent videos, in a similar style to the original one, that talk about girls being “unstoppable #LIKEAGIRL” and diversifying female emojis. On top of the YouTube videos there is the brand’s website with the #LIKEAGIRL page that has their videos, links to related work, curriculum for puberty education, and links to other platforms the campaign is being communicated via like Facebook, twitter, and Instagram.
In watching the original video, as well as the supporting videos, a key message keeps re-appearing. The key message Always is trying to get across is that during puberty girls’ confidence lowers and they think this needs to change. This is clear because in more than one video, including the original, they literally state “a girl’s confidence plummets during puberty” “always wants to change that”. Essentially the key message is that the phrase “like a girl” should no longer be used as an insult because it is demeaning to women in general. Their objective for the campaign then is to stop “like a girl” from being an insult in the future and to promote gender equality; but ultimately the goal is to sell products through building brand recognition and, most importantly, loyalty. The audience for this campaign, based on their messaging and how they have promoted the campaign so heavily on Facebook and Twitter, would be females in general but more specifically girls around the ages of 12-19 because they are going through puberty.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths:
-The video (the original) is done very well, the production value is strong and the message is communicated effectively by asking rhetorical questions to “every-day” people and using their answers to form a sort of narrative illustrating how girls internalize the phrase “like a girl” as a negative and how this happens during puberty by showing younger girls just being themselves and not self-regulating.
-The objective (maintaining confidence during puberty and beyond) is quite clearly defined in their videos so it’s clear what they want the audience to get out of the videos.
-The brand has done a very good job at becoming a publisher. By this I mean how they have produced multiple videos that all have lots of views on YouTube as well as partnering with Ted-ed to make additional scientific based videos relating to confidence and even their own “confidence summit”.
-On a similar note the campaign has effectively used Terry O’Reilly’s shish kebab theory in the sense that they have promoted their various videos on many different platforms (various social media and websites) but maintained the same key messages that promote their movement.
-The call to action in all of their videos is done well. Each one ends with three annotations. One links to Facebook with the video ready to share, another one’s the same but with Twitter and has the #LIKEAGIRL ready to post with the video, finally a link to their website to further educate yourself/buy their stuff. One video also links to the partnered Ted-ed video. This form of call to action makes sharing the videos very easy which is key to promotion via social media.
- The theme and messaging has the potential to start social commentary on the subject of gender inequality.
- From a business standpoint this campaign is great because the brand sells products for women post-puberty and their target audience here I believe to be mainly 12-19 year olds. The campaign seeks to build brand loyalty by making positive connections with women who will potentially buy the Always brand of products for the rest of their life and maybe even for their daughters in the future.
Weaknesses:
-There wasn’t much of a “hook” to start the video, could have been more attention grabbing to start off.
-Seems to relate almost exclusively to sports.
-I would think that most people using the “like a girl” phrase in a negative way are males so in terms of actually changing societal perception on the phrase and its use I don’t think this campaign is targeting the right people.
Opportunities:
-They can commoditize the feminist movement.
-Similar note, they can newsjack feminist related stories. E.g. Trudeau appointing 50% women to cabinet.
-Could expand to other social media like Snapchat or Periscope to reach their audience eve more effectively and become even more of a producer as a brand.
-Potential to bring celebrities in to show how they do things like a girl; this could help expand reach away from just sports as well.
-Bring in more males to the campaign in the videos and elsewhere to truly address the societal problem.
Threats:
-Old school thinking; patriarchal, hegemonic ideals that are perpetuated in the media.
-Could be discounted as simply trying to get people to buy their products and not actually caring about the issue at hand.
-The newly relevant issue of gender fluidity and gender neutrality. Things like trans-gendered peoples and gender neutral washrooms and clothing are becoming increasingly more of a public issue so I think this campaign could be seen in a negative light from that perspective in the sense that it perpetuates the idea of the genders being strictly “boys” and “girls” and the connected stereotypes.
Overall I think this campaign is pretty good. It has a clear goal and a clear target audience in teenage girls and maintaining their confidence. I believe that it is really effective in building brand-loyalty because of the way it connects itself with a large societal issue and basically makes a stance promoting women’s rights and confidence and then selling them products they will likely buy anyways. It also is effective in a long term outlook because it is a bond that I feel would hold over a long period of time as they are targeting their demographic at an appropriate stage in their lives based on the products they are selling. Nowadays everything has to do with the brand; it’s not so much even specific products anymore but the brand as a whole and people’s perception of what a brand stands for that determines what they buy. In that sense, great campaign. From the point of view of actually changing society’s perception of what “like a girl” means I don’t know that it’s all that effective mainly because I think males would be the target audience for a campaign like that.
I would include more males in the campaign if they want to make a true impact on girls’ confidence because, at least to me, it seems like males need to change and not females. I would also expand away from just sports and physical things like running and punching because I think there’s a lot of potential for equality outside of sports and that commenting on things other than sports would have a far wider social reach and be more impactful from a sociological perspective.