2016 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

Always innately struggles to connect with consumers because girls are ashamed to interact with a ‘taboo’ brand. So for the first time in the Arab world, we purely communicated on brand positioning versus product. Girls all over the world lose self-confidence at puberty. However, in the Arab World, the problem is deeper. The day a girl gets her first period, things she could do the day before are no longer permitted. Without realizing it, puberty forces her out of childhood and into her new society-imposed role: a future wife/mother. Consequently, these limitations affect her life. In fact, 94% of girls (pre-puberty) believe they can achieve their dreams, while only 20% of women actually do. Always believes with the right amount of confidence, a girl can achieve anything she wants. Through our social film we set on capturing real women, with genuine reactions, exposing the difference in confidence and aspirations between girls (pre-period) and women. The campaign kicked off through intimate events in Dubai & Beirut, premiering the film to selected influencers; who became our primary supporters even after the campaign ended. The film caught fire opening discussions across social platforms, driving consumer created content, and hashtag hijacks by pro-women empowerment institutions. On-ground conversation was activated through achiever empowerment talks, showcasing the possibility of reaching dreams. Noticing the momentum, the media publicized the campaign, astonished by the unscripted content, celebrity support and the millions of views.

The Brief

Main KPI was views so all our PR activities were focused on driving traffic to the main film. The secondary KPI was campaign impressions, which in return helped us shift perceptions and lift brand affiliation / positive sentiment. Always has struggled to establish a connection with consumers, considered ‘taboo’ girls were ashamed to be associated with the brand and interact with it online. Targeting girls 15 to 28, we needed them to listen to our empowering message, this was done by pushing content through celebrity / influencers and ensuring it happened in an intimate setting: social media.

Execution

The social film brought to life intimate realities of women in the Arab world, through authentic unscripted reactions. Running for over a month, the campaign kicked off by premiering the film to selected influencers; who became our primary supporters even after the campaign ended. The film caught fire opening discussions across all social platforms in the region. With all this social support, the media publicized the campaign, astonished by the unscripted content, celebrity support and the millions of views. The public appreciated Always for discussing such intimate topics, positive conversation spiraled out of the campaign uplifting Always in the eyes of consumers, positioning us as the vocalized girl empowerment brand in the region.

• Total Views of 11.7 million • Exceeded industry standards of organic views by 480% • Positive sentiment of 96% despite controversy of the message and the brand in such a patriarchal society. • Social Impressions of 166,943,033-more than 100% of our target • Purchase intent: Increase by 6%

The Strategy

The genuine content in our social experiment, naturally allowed us to engage with consumers and launch an empowerment discussion. By unveiling real women, with genuine reactions, exposing the difference in confidence and aspirations between girls (pre-period) and women, we were able to build a strong emotional bond with consumers. Prior to the social experiment, we solicited an in-depth research that helped find shocking deep-rooted claims that convey the problem and grab audience attention. However seeing that we are a ‘taboo’ brand, we needed consumers to WATCH our film, and LISTEN to our message. Thus the strategy was to hook influencers at an early stage, so they convey our message as their own. Not only did opinion leaders, lead an online, causing consumers to both engaged with our brand, and become fans, they would shine spotlight on our discussion pushing media to share the content on social.