Case Study

P&G's Always

P&G's Always feminine care campaign, "Like a Girl," has generated a great deal of attention in the marketplace recent: 58 million views on YouTube and the first feminine care product Super Bowl ad. In addition, the campaign has won a number of prestigious awards, including being the sole winner in the 2015 Effie Awards GoodWorks Brand category. The award was created to recognize marketers using their platform for good through purpose-driven marketing campaigns. At the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, considered the Academy Awards for advertising, the campaign won a Glass Lion prize and the Grand Prix award in the PR category. The Glass Lion prize is a new category, introduced in 2015, to honor campaigns that address issues related to gender inequality and prejudice.

P&G is working to target women with more realistic and empowering messages. The campaign focuses on what young women, boys, and girls think it means to do something "like a girl." This is an especially important question given the fact that research has documented a drop-in self-esteem as girls grow into young women. The ads have connected well with women and sparked a great deal of conversation, much of it driven by the hashtag #LikeAGirl. The campaign's message is all about changing the like-a-girl phrase from an insult into something that empowers and inspires.

Allison Arden points to a comment about the campaign made by Ken Wheaton in an Advertising Age column. Wheaton said, "It's an eye-opener-which is something you don't often get in advertising of any kind. It made me-a 21st century, non-PC male born and raised in the Southreconsider my own word choices." Other experts praised the purpose-driven marketing campaign for its ability to identify a new insight and purpose of its own, create a compelling message that will be meaningful over an extended period of time, and understand the importance of unusual media placements that put the message in front of audience in a way that made a statement.

Do you believe that consumers consider a brand's supply chain ethics when they purchase apparel? Do consumers bear any responsibility for the ways in which laborers in the apparel industry are treated? Would you be willing to pay a premium for a brand that was transparent about their efforts to ensure that laborers are paid a fair wage and treated decently?

In Allison Ardens Advertising Age article about the Like-a-Girl campaign, she talks about the need for purpose driven marketing campaigns to feel authentic. To what extent has the Like-a-Girl campaign achieved this goal? What are the unique marketing challenges for a feminine care product overall?