Finally, A Women's Empowerment Advertisement That's Right on Target

You are strong. You are important. You will succeed. And don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

That seems to be the message marketers continue to send these days, especially to women. With the decade long trend in women’s empowerment marketing, it’s a wonder we even managed to get out of bed and make it to work in the past. Much less hold down any other responsibility our lives required us to hold.

So are these marketing efforts working? Well, yes, because the whole the “you can do it” attitude tends to generate a lot of buzz. A viral video, accompanied by some sort of coupon push would most likely generate an increase in sales.

We’ve seen plenty of companies jump on the train to use this “Go-girl” attitude to promote their product. Look at Dove. They pretty much started the trend. Verizon, Procter & Gamble’s Pantene, and several others even jumped on the train.

The marketing, yes it’s brilliant. I mean, yeah we all know we need to bath ourselves using soap and shampoo. So the efforts clearly rise from the question of “How do we sell more?” Well apparently the answer is to tell otherwise successful and secure women they need help.

Now, a critic of any of these ads would probably be labeled as this ultra-feminist, and that I am not. So, I – a millennial, born and bred southerner with a college education – would like to point out the “Like a Girl” effort by P&G’s Always. This advertisement takes the cake in this decade long trend of women’s empowerment marketing, and it does truly what marketers and advertisers aim to do. P&G Always’ video hits the nail on the head by stating an eye-opening case for the claim “Like a Girl,” reaching the correct target audience and remaining directly in line with the brand.

The video is genius because it actually makes a case for the saying "like a girl." We've all used it, and it is almost always a derogatory statement to imply inferiority. However, instead of claiming that only men say this, Always shows the difference between the thoughts of two groups - pre-adolescent girls and the rest of the world. The young girls are asked to do actions like a girl, and what do they do? Give it their all! Ask anyone else to do a task like a girl and they run with flailing arms and legs. It made me re-think how I choose my words.

The video has gone viral, and was directed by Sundance Film Festival award-winning Lauren Greenfield. Chicago agency, Leo Burnett is the agency behind the campaign, and Always has also created a site for people to join the movement.

Always succeeds the most with their target. They speak directly to young girls having their first period and their moms. With that, the video is right in line with Always' brand. GOLD.

Ultimately, its a sales pitch. It’s an emotionally driven, consumer motivating, viral campaign that’s driving sales of panty liners – what it was intended to do, like a girl.