Background

In Australia, by age 15 one in 6 girls have been stalked or followed. In a year when women’s safety took up more of the conversation than ever, UN Women Australia (UNWA) wanted to provide a practical way for girls to feel less vulnerable and take control of their experience. The theme for International Day of the Girl was ‘Digital Generation’ and UNWA tasked us with finding a way to reach girls in their element through a new creative campaign. Our challenge was that awareness of UNWA was extremely low amongst that age group, there was no prior association. So we had to create a captivating campaign that put UN Women Australia and women's empowerment on the map, connecting UNWA with this new audience.

Describe the creative idea

#EmpowerMoves is the first TikTok dance made of self-defence moves, launching on International Day of the Girl. Created by working with a self-defence expert Rita Matty from SheFightsBack, and a choreographer Karla Mura, the dance was cleverly based around a sequence of four simple easy to remember self-defence moves. We launched this organically as a TikTok dance trend, prompting users to jump on board and learn the moves for themselves, before revealing in detail the moves behind the dance. The choice of format and medium was intrinsic to the idea, it could not have existed in any other format. We needed girls to get involved in a way that felt positive and empowering rather than fearmongering, so the tone and energy of the creative, and the authenticity and relatability of the instructor was paramount.

Describe the strategy

The theme for International Day of the Girl (IDOTG) 2021 was ‘Digital Generation’ and with over a quarter of Australia's Generation Alpha, and 20% of GenZ on TikTok (skewing female) it was the perfect mobile platform to talk directly to girls and young women, previously a group with low awareness of UNWA. The challenge was how we talk to them without being didactic, fearmongering or preachy – we needed to speak in a language they would understand.  So we deliberately released the campaign on TikTok without mentioning UNWA to get girls on board, before the big reveal.  Knowing the issue of self-defence wasn’t a simple one, #EmpowerMoves wasn’t intended to solve the problem of violence, its aim is to create awareness and help girls feel less vulnerable and more empowered. As a result, what started as a series of dance moves turned into a movement that reached young girls everywhere.

Describe the execution

The campaign had two stages across 10 days. We launched the dance on TikTok 5 days prior to IDOTG via our choreographer Karla Mura and a diverse selection of influencers to look like a typical trending dance. The day before IDOTG the Hashtag Challenge dropped, revealing to the world that hidden within the dance was a selection of self-defence moves created by martial arts expert Rita Matty. For the Hashtag Challenge we released breakdown videos that talked girls through each move. On IDOTG itself we extended the campaign to OOH and other social channels – partnering with entertainment pages like Nova and Mamma Mia to reach our target audience and direct girls to the UNWA TikTok Hashtag Challenge page to join the movement. As well as TikTok in-feed and top of page Topview Ad, and branded assets in TV and radio to further raised awareness of the cause.

List the results

The dance took off, the song became number 3 on the viral TikTok chart, and Australian of The Year, Grace Tame, was among the thousands of people who shared #EmpowerMoves videos. We achieved 500 million views of the Hashtag Challenge page (177% above benchmark), 130 million video views worldwide, plus a reach of 62.5 million people worldwide, including 68% of all monthly active TikTok users in Australia. The #EmpowerMoves campaign video had a completion rate of 100%, 81% higher than TikTok’s benchmark for their ‘One Day Max’ placement. Social and media coverage delivered a ROI of 4,924%, with 40 pieces of coverage and over 300,000 media impressions. UN Women Australia had no TikTok presence prior to this campaign. #EmpowerMoves opened them up to a whole new audience, generating 6,890 followers and over 100,000 likes on their posted videos, reaching their goal of growing awareness among a younger audience on IDOTG.