'Girls Room' Merges Data and Storytelling For Ultimate Impact
'Girls Room' is a new 5 part series that places its focus on young girls' self image in a social-media dominated existence. The series comes from Dove, whose content work of late has been highly purpose driven, seeking to uplift, inspire, and reinforce that Dove's values have more to do with beauty seen in the self than in social and traditional media. The public response to Dove's outpouring of content isn't just positive - it's proof that the brand has found a way to connect with its audience in ways that transcend typical advertising. This type of resonance doesn't come by happenstance. The success of series like 'Girls Room' is achieved through the careful collection and implementation of information.
According to Dove, research conducted in conjunction with the Centre for Appearance Research yielded results on the aspects of social interaction and body image that young girls deal with most: competing and comparing looks through social media, respecting and looking after yourself by listening to your body’s needs, teasing and bullying, talking about appearance and breaking beauty stereotypes in conversation, body functionality and embodiment and seeing the body as more than an object. And while it's one thing to understand what young girls are going through, it's entirely another to address that information. It's for this reason that Lena Waithe was tapped to write the fiction that would address these issues.
An award winning writer and performer, Lena Waithe is one of the top writers in entertainment today, and uniquely suited to turn Dove's data into sharp, poignant stories for young girls to learn from and be inspired by. Using the aforementioned research, Waithe created the five characters that would become the subject of the 'Girls Room' series, over the course of which the group will encounter and overcome issues about body image, bullying, and appearance.
Dove partnered with attn:, the social media publisher with over 2 billion monthly impressions, to share the Waithe-written series on IGTV. The series is shot in a vertical format, just another of the many key choices made to help the content reach its target audience: teenage girls. Best of all - it's actually entertaining, a result that can't be achieved without making smart, informed choices to serve the audience.
It's not enough just to decide to make content for content's sake. There must be some impetus that connect's to a brand's core values that motivates creating as a response. Dove has demonstrated that once again by using real data to inform story, and tapping the right talent to tell that story the best possible way.
