Total 522 words used.
In September 2020, Olay announced its brand mission to help double the number of women, and triple the number of women of color, in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) careers by 2030. Women are vastly underrepresented in STEM; they fill only 27% of STEM jobs, despite comprising nearly 50% of the U.S. workforce.
Furthermore, teachers are vital in encouraging careers in STEM; yet, the pandemic gave rise to unprecedented learning environment challenges, as confirmed by Olay-sponsored research. Talented girls were dropping out of STEM daily, changing the trajectories of their lives. Olay resolved to help facilitate positive change.
Goals for 2021 included enlisting teachers to foster a passion for STEM in young girls, ultimately supporting Olay’s brand ambition of education and empowerment. The brand aimed to execute with excellence, engage with a “cool” factor, and generate massive talkability/buzz.
With those objectives in mind, Olay committed to delivery of custom science lesson kits to U.S. teachers on Feb. 11, 2021 (the International Day of Women and Girls in Science) to support STEM education efforts in the classroom (physical or virtual). This would be the most visible and engaging early step the brand would take to bring hope and positive messages to girls interested in science.
A nomination portal, opened in mid-December 2020 on Olay.com, allowed teachers, administrators, parents and the public to nominate teachers involved in STEM to receive the custom Olay science kits, including letters and videos from female STEM trailblazers, scientific tools appropriate for both in-person and virtual teaching, and a lesson plan on skin science. The portal was promoted via organic and paid social, plus email and text. Simultaneously, celebrity influencers, including Busy Philipps, Alyssa Carson, Reshma Saujani and Katie Couric, were activated to help drive excitement and nominations.
In January 2021, Atlanta, Houston, Phoenix, Fort Lauderdale and Philadelphia were selected as priority markets for the science kit deliveries, based on local trends identified in test scores for female STEM students, or percentage of women in the STEM workforce. School administrators, board members and state education officials relevant to these five key markets were engaged to share news of Olay’s STEM mission and further encourage local teacher nominations.
From the nominees, 100 STEM teachers across the five markets were selected to receive the science kit via drone delivery, infusing a “surprise and delight” element into the overall experience. Another 175 nominated teachers received the kits via mail.
Paid, owned and earned media tactics supported the event from the opening of nominations through mid-February 2021. A major media push executed on drone drop day included a Good Morning America feature segment, amplified through GMA’s online channels. Olay's celebrity and STEM partners promoted the event on their own social channels, and recipient teachers, their administrators and other supporters across America posted about receiving the deliveries and what they would mean to students, using #FaceTheSTEMGap.
In all, the compelling initiative achieved 1.75 billion earned press impressions, key opinion leader (KOL) reach of 3.87 million, 113,300 total KOL engagements, and 24,208 Olay.com pageviews. The success of the event secured plans for related future Olay initiatives.
