2017 Winners & Shortlists

Brief Explanation

While women all over the world are sharing their lives online, this is not the case in conservative Saudi Arabia, where a woman is not socially permitted to show a picture of herself online or seem like she’s protesting for a cause. And with regards to Feminine Care products, women don’t like to associate themselves with menstrual pad brands online, given the embarrassment factor. Always, the market leader in menstrual pads, saw an opportunity to connect with Saudi women online to build its community. Always launched the first online march where instead of showing their face, women shared footage of their steps moving for a better tomorrow. This gave women a platform to express themselves in videos by showing only their steps while stating their belief, dream, or purpose. Women discovered this movement on Facebook and Instagram through posts from influencers and a trending hashtag #MoveForward (and its Arabic equivalent), giving them a reason to participate and use the hashtag. User-generated content was curated and shared by the brand, in addition to the ongoing content that Always created and shared. THE STRATEGY Broadcast and media are subject to censorship by authorities in Saudi Arabia. While women around the world share their lives online, a Saudi woman is not socially permitted to show a picture of herself online or protest for a cause. Always saw an opportunity to allow women to express themselves online, away from typical censorship restrictions, without showing their face: a movement of user-generated videos around women empowerment that is curated and compiled into longer stories by Always. Women discovered this movement on Facebook and Instagram through influencers, a trending hashtag #MoveForward (and its Arabic equivalent), and posts by Always. THE EXECUTION The Online March movement that Always created on Facebook and Instagram made it easy for women to express their thoughts on the power of women and what they can achieve. The movement was thus supported by influencers, giving key content visibility then letting people organically discover what others were expressing, making them part of a larger movement. It began with a few influencers adopting the movement, followed by an instameet to create reference videos by Instagramers, and then went mainstream on Facebook and Instagram with intermittent promoted support on Facebook. THE RESULTS The Online March exceeded our targets for user-generated content and community growth: • It generated more than 45 million impressions on Facebook and Instagram, and 4.6 million print impressions. • The participation mechanism allowed over 5,000 women to express themselves with content they submitted. There were +1 million interactions around that content and +2.6 million organic views on the videos. • Brand affinity has also improved as a result: the Facebook brand page got a +12.51% fan growth (+10,000 new fans in two months), while the Instagram page received +5,500 new Instagram followers (starting from zero).