Why is this work relevant for Social & Influencer?

Our campaign utilised social media to spread a message, #whenwillsheberight, accompanying film and artworks, as far and wide as possible. Our film was hosted on social video platforms to optimise sharing and maximise views. Popular artists were used as influencers that created and spread their own interpretation of our message, which spurred smaller-time artists to get involved too.

Background

UNWA is responsible for promoting women’s empowerment and gender equality and was established to accelerate its progress. Globally the mission of UN Women is to achieve global gender equality by 2030. UN Women Australia, has a famous name, but is a local organisation with low awareness. It is also an organisation with big goals. The United Nations has set a goal to reach gender equality by 2030. But based on current predictions, it will not be reached for another 100 years. Consequently our brief was two-fold; raise awareness of the 100 years it will take to achieve gender equality so that we could rally a nation to take action to improve this projection, and to recognise UN Women Australia as a force leading the change.

Describe the creative idea (30% of vote)

Australians are known for their laid back, easy-going attitude. But it means we’re often apathetic to issues that arise. We even have a phrase for it – if something goes wrong, we just say “she’ll be right”. It means any old problem will sort itself out with time. Unfortunately for gender equality, that point is 100 years away. So, on International Women’s Day we launched a direct campaign criticising our cultural apathy, rallying people behind the question; #WhenWillSheBeRight? Online, a film starring up-and-coming Australian actress Miah Madden used damning statistics to talk to where ‘she’ is still unequal in Australian society. Meanwhile, well-known Aussie artists took to social media to interpret the message in their own way. It caught on, with more and more independent members of the public joining in too.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

The target audience for this campaign was key. We were not concerned with the ‘woke’, aware and politically engaged women's movement. We already had them on side. To inspire change and achieve genuine progress we needed to appeal to the everyday Australian. Rather than a demographic, we were talking to a mindset; those who believe gender equality has been achieved, or think it is just around the corner with nothing left to do. It is this complacent mindset we were going after. Instead of talking 'at' our audience, we needed to start a conversation with them about the issue and get them to help spread the message; therefore, social media was paramount to our comms approach.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

Launching on International Women’s Day, a powerful film designed to share appeared on socials. Starring up and coming star Miah Madden, the film used damning statistics to talk to where ‘she’ is still unequal in Australian society. Meanwhile, well known Aussie artists took to social media to interpret our question in their own way, each also referencing various aspects of gender inequality in Australia. It caught on, with more and more independent members of the public joining in to create their own. We then used these artworks to form an OOH campaign, raising the question across Australia’s capital cities.

List the results (30% of vote)

Our film was watched by 1 in 40 Aussies within 48 hours by organic social sharing alone. Now, over 1 in 26 have. Our artists interpretations allowed people to share multiple times without wear out. From 30 posts, our following grew by 30% in 48 hours, with 1550% more interactions per-post, 49% more website traffic than the 2020 campaign period, and 310% more clicks to donate. Donations increased by 83%, compared to IWD 2020. With $0 media spend, the campaign generated approximately $4million in earned media – a reach of over 24 million (in a country of 26 million) from traditional media only not including social, where most of the campaign lived. #WhenWillSheBeRight appeared in discussions around equality on the day and beyond, on socials, the news, private company emails, school assemblies and university lectures. It became call-to-arms, appearing on placards and chanted through the streets at Women’s March4Justice rallies.

Please tell us about the cultural insight that inspired the work

Australians are happy-go-lucky people. We’re known for our laid back, easy-going attitude. And we have a phrase that represents that attitude – if something goes wrong, we just say “she’ll be right”. It means any old problem will sort itself out with time. It’s often seen as an optimistic outlook, but it also encapsulates our cultural complacency. As a nation, we are often apathetic to issues, big or small, and have an inherent belief that things will work out, without any effort at all. It’s a phrase that absolves us of responsibility or the need to take action. So we used the phrase to talk to ‘she’ in a literal sense. Forcing Aussies to look at our terrible, declining position in the world on gender equality, and realise that ‘she’ is not right at all.