The encyclopedia · Marketing & Brand · Marketing decision · 2014
Always turned the insult 'like a girl' into an empowerment message that moved the brand
A period-pad brand reframed a schoolyard taunt as a badge of confidence, and the phrase became a movement.
Always (Procter & Gamble)
the move
Always lives at the moment girls hit puberty, exactly when research and experience show self-confidence tends to drop. The brand wanted a message tied to that problem rather than solely to the product.
with Leo Burnett, it released '#LikeAGirl', a short film that asked people to run or fight 'like a girl' and captured how a schoolyard put-down became shorthand for weakness.
The film went up online in June 2014, aired as a 60-second Super Bowl spot, and was credited with helping the brand's North American sales grow while the phrase 'like a girl' itself became an empowerment slogan.
why it works
- It named a real emotional problem (lost confidence at puberty) that the product is directly connected to, so the ad felt like help not hype.
- By asking adults to show a weak 'like a girl' and girls to show a strong one, it let the audience feel the insult's weight rather than being told.
- It used an everyday phrase as the vehicle, so the campaign extended into schools and social media far beyond a single film.
- Winning the Cannes PR Grand Prix among almost 2,000 entries showed juries read it as a genuine behaviour campaign, not a product spot.
what transfers
A brand that reframes a word people already use can change the conversation; taking ownership is more powerful than trying to dodge the negative.
what came after
#LikeAGirl became one of the most awarded campaigns of the decade, winning the Cannes Lions PR Grand Prix and setting the template for purpose-led brands. It spawned a sequel, 'Unstoppable', and is cited as proof that an empowerment message can also move product.
references
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