HERO

Client: Maybelline New York
Product: Maybelline New York
Title: Through Their Eyes
Media: Twitch, YouTube Live Streaming, Tik Tok, Suppirting Webpage
Country: Australia
Date Of Campaign: 23 february 2023

Background: In Australia, 83% of female-identifying gamers have experienced offensive behaviour online. So most switch their microphones off to hide their identity, and game in silence.With almost 50% of the gaming community now female, Maybelline New York wanted to ensure that all women feel confident to be seen, express themselves, create and play in this space. The brief was to change the game.

Idea: We set out to show male gamers what it was like to play through a woman’s eyes. Two prominent Aussie male gamers had their real identities disguised with voice modification software and fake female profiles in an online first-person shooter game. They experienced first-hand the level of constant abuse and bullying experienced by the opposite sex. Shared out by our four gamer influencers, the film quickly resonated with the online gaming community and beyond. Appreciating they’d been heard, female-identifying players shared their stories, many who had been hiding in silence for over ten years, and most importantly millions of male gamers called for others to stand up and say something. Then during IWD week 32 top female gamers joined the cause at a live national tournament, where they played on a custom Fortnite map and told their combined audience of 17M to keep their eyes up and call out abuse.

Results: The campaign achieved a total 449.9M global impressions and an earned media reach of 276.5M+. Of this, 29 articles featured in international gaming news outlets, achieving a cumulative earned media reach of 65.2M+ gamers.Through social listening we saw a dramatic gender shift in campaign engagement:Before: Female 72%, Male 28%Weeks 1 - 2: Female 61%, Male 39%Weeks 3 - 4: Female 47%, Male 53%We’ll repeat the research in 6 months to assess evidence of reduced harassment and long-term behaviour change. Leading indicators suggest, in conjunction with increased conversation, participation with Reach Out and healthy positive social sentiment, that shifts in behaviour will be observed.In terms of brand perception, the campaign positively impacted on the Maybelline brand achieving their highest ever mascara market share 51.93%, outpacing the market by 5x in unit sales, with +19.7 percentage points of market penetration vs last year.