Some call it the movie-lovers’ Super Bowl. Crowds gather and eyeballs are glued as the pre-game, the Red Carpet, precedes the main event: The Academy Awards.
Each year, nominated films are evaluated, actors are rated for their performances, and everyone behind the scenes is up for recognition of one kind or another. This year, we saw the likes of Julianne Moore, Patricia Arquette, and Reese Witherspoon take to the stage as winners and nominees.
We also got an earful about what they were wearing.
It’s become commonplace as another type of judgment has grown in prevalence over the years – that of the attendees’ gowns, body shapes, hairstyles, and every other physical aspect viewable on millions of televisions around the world.
Entire programs are now devoted to watching the celebrities walk the carpet, solely so that their outfits can be critiqued. Pseudo-celebrity hosts of these shows have made a name for themselves by being as cutting as possible, passing it off as humor.
On Oscar night, however, you may have noticed a shift in the tide, at least in the Twittersphere.
In an effort to highlight – and reverse – the negativity which surrounds such flashy events, Dove launched a campaign called #SpeakBeautiful in conjunction with Twitter. Based on a recent Twitter survey which reported that four out of five negative tweets posted about beauty and body image were women putting themselves down, the two companies designed a tool which would identify posts on related topics during Oscar night and immediately respond to them with something positive, written by self-esteem experts who were manning the company’s Twitter account.
In addition, an impactful spot ran, showing a series of white domino tiles, each with an actual negative body image quote. A blue Dove tile, showing the tweet “You are Beautiful,” then hits the first, sending them all falling. A shocking statistic is shared as well: last year alone, women sent over 5 million negative tweets about beauty and body image. The spot ends with the hashtag #SpeakBeautiful.
By combining a rivetingly simple video with a social media campaign directly targeted at a perfectly matched television event, Dove and Twitter came at their message from all sides, not just conveying it, but insisting that it be heard. Response was remarkable.
When putting a message out into the social media landscape, method and timing are as important as the words you choose. We would love the opportunity to figure out how to best conceptualize, target, and craft your own multichannel social media campaign. Like Dove and Twitter, our partnership could have a very real opportunity to make an impact in an otherwise noisy landscape. Let’s talk!
– BML
