An interview with ag
We sat down with Leading to Win founder, AG Lafley, to get the inside scoop on one of the most famous advertising wins in recent history. That’s right — we’re talking about Always’ iconic Like a Girl campaign. At the time of the campaign’s launch in 2014, and subsequent Superbowl XLVIII commercial, AG was serving as CEO of Procter & Gamble, the parent company of Always.
Can you tell us about the Like a Girl campaign?
The Like A Girl campaign was a huge breakout for us - for our Always feminine hygiene brand, for our industry and for parent company P&G. The audience reaction — even the worldwide reaction — when we aired it at the Superbowl in 2014 was overwhelming in magnitude, size and support. It was clear the type of positive emotions we evoked. It was surprising, too, that the response was also overwhelmingly positive from men — fathers, brothers and boyfriends in addition to the women and girls we expected.
What was the impact of the campaign?
What Like A Girl accomplished was magnificent.
You know you have a real human insight when you get a big, emotional and positive response to an idea. In this case, the idea was expressed with a very unique execution. The campaign was actually not created for advertising initially - it was the next logical step in a program that started more than a decade ago called Being Girl.
The purpose of Being Girl was to provide a safe digital platform where young girls, teens and preteens could connect and engage… where they could express their anxieties and ask questions they couldn't or wouldn't ask their family. As many know, there are so many changes, feelings and anxieties associated with this time in a young person’s life, and we wanted to provide a platform where they felt safe.
Over the decade since Being Girl started, dialogue continued and trust was built by the people that used Always’ products. This, in turn, helped us design better products and more deeply understand the anxieties, worries and hardships the girls of this age were going through.
That’s how we came to Like A Girl. Through a decade of trust building and developing a foundational understanding of what girls went through - how their life changed, how their feelings changed, how their understanding of themselves changed.
You know, when a girl is going through her menstrual cycle for the first time - they experience a lot. Emotional changes, physical changes, conflicting feelings, differences in their usual social life and external world. It was the understanding of this fuller context that led us to the real breakthrough. We saw that, when girls were younger, they thought “like a girl” meant “I can do anything I want to do.” Behaving like a girl was a positive thing. But once they entered puberty — self confidence plummeted and anxieties increased. Like a Girl became pejorative.
So, we took like a girl — this derogatory term used by many — and flipped it on its head. We turned it into an anthem for positivity around all the behaviors of a girl. From here, execution was simple. We took all the insights we learned, visualized it and filmed it. From a pure brand and product standpoint, Always and P&G could not have done this if they didn't have 20 years of great, innovative products and a platform like Being Girl to stand on.
What made the campaign so successful?
We found that, if you really have a universal human insight, it resonates across world boundaries - across religions, across continents, across people. The ideas and emotions behind the campaign were genuine - and so it worked. It’s worth noting, too, that we weren’t selling wishes and dreams… we were selling a product. And effective one. If it wasn’t, I truly believe that the emotional appeal of the campaign would’ve been lost. It was the strong base of the Always and P&G brand, and a product that’s worked reliability for years, that’s made the campaign so successful.
How did you know if it was the right decision to run this campaign?
As an organization, we’re everywhere — all over the world. Our brands interact with all cultures, countries, people, beliefs… from democracies to tough dictatorships. And yet, this campaign tackled something universal to all. That mattered to us.
The role that we’ve chosen to take on human issues and social issues comes directly from our purpose and principals. We provide branded products and services of superior quality and value that improve the lives of the world's consumers, now and for generations to come. So, at the end of the day, it was really our mission, vision and values that lead us to running this campaign. We used them to guide our decisions - and you should, too.