Dots conference, Friday 16th September 2016, Brighton

1. The power of communication
in changing gender stereotypes
NISHMA ROBB
Head of Ads Marketing, Google & YouTube

2. In the next 20 minutes I hope ...
to give everyone a better understanding about the power of communications
and the opportunity to use communications to challenge negative stereotypes about
women.
you feel empowered about what you can do in your role to affect this change,
whether you work in marketing or not.

3. We are exposed to over 5,000 ads per day, whether we like it or not,
they are the backdrop to our lives and play an important role in creating
implicit associations and forming stereotypes, gender or otherwise.

4. said they made the majority of
financial decisions in their house.
of women globally feel that there opinion
is less valued because they’re a woman.43%
73%
of women globally agreed that femininity
was a strength and not a weakness.
(UK: 84%)
86%
of women wanted to see more
inclusion of female achievement
in the history books.
82%

5. How do women really
feel about stereotyping
and discrimination?

6. Workplace Discrimination
Over 1 in 3 women feel that they’ve
been discriminated against in her
place of work
Discrimination
Almost half of women in the UK have
felt stereotyped or discriminated
against, regardless of her age
49% 35%
Half of women have felt stereotyped or discriminated against
Source: (left) Google Consumer Survey. N=3380; (right) Google Consumer Surveys N=4739

7. Source: Google Consumer Survey. Based on W18-64 who have felt discriminated against because of gender. N=1000
Types of discrimination varied across all aspects of life
“What kind of stereotyping or discrimination based on gender have you
experienced?”

8. Major strides in women’s rights, but progress
has slowed
Older women feel that women’s rights have improved
Younger women are feeling that discrimination has been
getting worse. This could be because these women are
newer to the workforce and are being exposed to it
more now and/or due to cultural shifts that encourage
discrimination against women (ie. body shaming,
rape culture, etc).
Source: Google Consumer Survey. Based on W18-64 who have felt discriminated against because of gender. N=1000
Young women feel that discrimination is getting worse
“Do you feel that discrimination against women has got better or worse recently?”

11. How has advertising
changed over time?

12. Research conducted by Unilever over the past three
years found that when asked about advertising ..
40% of women said they don’t recognise themselves in
the ads they see.
And in an analysis of ads across a range of countries
and brands it found that 50% of ads showed a negative
or “not progressive” stereotype of women
and just 3% showed clever or funny women.

14. i
What is femvertising?
...

15. Men
Recall seeing ads aimed
at empowering women
Women
Recall seeing ads aimed at
empowering women
80% 69%
Source: Google Consumer Survey. Based on W18-64 who have felt discriminated against because of gender. N=800
The majority of adults are familiar with femvertising

16. “What brands do you think of for advertisements aimed at empowering women?”
Source: Google Consumer Survey. Based on all adults. N=1142
Only a few key brands come to mind for most consumers

18. Photos - Getty Images Lean In
If you search for ‘working women’ on stock photography sites,
you generally get photos of women in trouser suits wielding
brick-sized phones, photos of women pouting sexily while
adjusting their glasses, and not much else.
Getty Images and Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In org partnered
to produce a collection of images that represent women
and families in more empowering and authentic ways.
This ‘Lean In’ collection has more than 7,000 visuals
‘celebrating powerful images of women, girls and
the communities that support them’.

20. Do women l ve the
ads?
52%
45%
71%
believe brands should be held
accountable for their ads to promote
positive messages to women and girls
have bought a product because they
like how the brand portrays women
have shared a commercial
with a pro-female message

21. It´s true - Femvertising sells
Of women have bought a product because they liked how the ad for it portrayed women.
52%
Nike
Nike saw a 15% increase
quarterly revenue, largely due to
its efforts to cater to women.
Dove
Dove sales have jumped to $4 billions
from $2.5 billions when it´s Campaign for
Real Beauty initially launched.
Getty Images
Sales for Getty Images ´Lean In
Collection grew 54% from February
to June 2014.

22. Business success
Mattel shares jumped after results showed Barbie sales growth of 23%
The Sport England ‘This girl can’
campaign got nearly 3 million women doing
activity because of the campaign
The Under Armour campaign delivered nearly
300% more brand conversation and over 60%
increase in stock price Touch the Pickle campaign
delivered US$61 mn in earned media.

23. ...but is it all getting a bit repetitive?
1.
2
.
3.
There is growing fatigue, a sense it is becoming too formulaic - ⅓
of men and women think it is becoming too cheesy
Nike, Dove and Sure .. not Sure
But they are merging into one. Only 17% of women
correctly identified “like a girl” with Always

24. And they are all starting to blend
together for consumers
Source: Google Consumer Survey. Based on all adults. “Which brand ran the campaign “Like A Girl”?” N=1096
Only 17% of women correctly
identified “Like A Girl”
as a campaign from Always.
Men were more likely to
associate it with Dove or Nike.

25. Among both men and women
Source: Google Consumer Survey. Based on all adults. “How do you feel when brands create ads aimed at empowering women?” N=800
There is growing fatigue around this type of ad

26. Break the mould …

28. Manvertising
More male casting in the
role of dads
#sharetheload

29. Storytelling not limited to 30 secs
At YouTube we’ve seen the number of ads
aimed at empowering women double
of the last year

30. New age of influencers
No commissioning editors
The public decides …
Creators with a message for good
New age of influencers
No commissioning editors
The public decides …
Creators with a message for good

31. Your role
Use your power , imagination
and creativity …. Do not be bound
by stereotypes.
Create the world we want to
be in An Inclusive World
Break the next barriers ...

32. Thank you