Empow-HER: Here’s a wide-reaching campaign that amplified women’s abilities in sports! [Friday: Gorillas of Guerrilla Marketing]
A study on girls and women in sports revealed that nearly half of all sports participants are women, yet only a small percentage of them receive coverage in sports media.
This highlights a gender inequality issue in the industry.
So, to help address this issue, one organization recognized the need to empower women and promote equality in sports. This organization merged its primary objective of increasing awareness about dairy milk consumption and the goal of managing gender inequality issues in its campaign.
The name of this organization?
MilkPEP!
Photo from: Perishable News
Milk Processor Education Program (MilkPEP) is an organization committed to raising awareness about the benefits of dairy milk consumption and promoting milk intake.
This company has been making continuous efforts to educate people about the importance of including milk in their lifestyle.
MilkPEP had previous campaigns titled, “Got Milk?” in 1993 and “You’re Gonna Need Milk for That” in 2021. These campaigns both aimed to encourage people to reconsider milk as a necessity for optimum health and performance.
To continue these initiatives, in 2022, MilkPEP and its creative agency GALE partnered with Talon, an agency specializing in out-of-home (OOH) media executions. The team-up aimed to spotlight women runners by launching a campaign that targeted all female and female-identifying runners.
The campaign was specifically designed for the 2022 New York City Marathon. MilkPEP’s goal was to sponsor women participants and empower them through running.
How did the organization do this?
Through the “Milk 26.2” campaign!
Photo from: Gonna Need Milk
Fun fact: The campaign’s title was derived from “Milk,” which symbolizes MilkPEP’s goal and the number “26.2,” which is the distance in miles run in a marathon.
In this campaign, MilkPEP, GALE, and Talon collaborated with an organization dedicated to empowering young girls through running: Girls on the Run.
The campaign had three parts:
- Getting the Attention of Female Runners
Talon created a digital OOH campaign targeting female and female-identifying runners by placing print and interactive media across famous running areas in New York City.
Alongside this, the campaign team also launched a website named GonnaNeedMilk.com/26.2. The site enabled female runners to register to be part of the “Team Milk” in the upcoming marathon and access information about milk and its benefits.
- Geo-targeted Marketing at New York City
The registration process continued during the New York City Marathon Expo at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. Those who attended the expo were encouraged to use the Milk photo booth, which turned photos into dynamic creatives displayed on interactive digital installations around the city.
Photo from: LBB Editorial
- Continued Geotargeting for Runner Awareness
MilkPEP and the campaign team continued the geo-targeting strategy at New York City… but this time, the objective was to provide runners with available information about the marathon on the day of the run and emphasize the importance of milk and its connection with the marathon.
Here, MilkPEP seized the opportunity to highlight that milk can serve as both an athlete’s performance fuel and a companion in achieving equality goals during the event.
- Post-race Initiatives
In this part, MilkPEP extended its gratitude to Team Milk runners. Talon utilized location-based technologies along the marathon path to show appreciation and congratulate runners.
This campaign lasted for two months.
Was the “Milk 26.2” campaign effective?
Through the “Milk 26.2,” MilkPEP was able to amplify women’s empowerment through running while seamlessly incorporating milk ads in the campaign!
Take a look at the results:
- The campaign was able to raise USD 600,000 for Girls on the Run.
- After the first campaign activation, MilkPEP’s Instagram account recorded a 7% increase in followers.
- The OOH media efforts reached MilkPEP’s target audience and inspired over 3,000 women to join Team Milk in the NYC marathon.
- The campaign series garnered over 9 million social media impressions and more than 100,000 social media engagements.
- The campaign recorded 1.3 billion media impressions with over 200 articles.
The campaign also gained an award and a recognition:
- A Gold Award under the OOH Media Plan category at the OAAA 2023 Awards.
- A nomination under the Advertising, Media & PR – Best Event Activation category at the 2023 Webby Awards.
Bravo, MilkPEP! Clearly, these results and recognitions highlight the effectiveness of your campaign in achieving its goals!
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What can you learn from MilkPEP’s campaign?
- A comprehensive marketing plan is crucial for achieving success.
In MilkPEP’s campaign efforts, the media plan was identified as the key factor contributing to the overall success of the campaign. This careful planning helped the organization align its goals and execution throughout the campaign.
Here, we can see that extensive planning for a marketing campaign can lead to smoother execution and more successful results.
- Geo-targeting proves advantageous for OOH campaigns.
MilkPEP’s campaign series were executed in locations where the organization’s target audience could easily see and interact with the brand. Geotargeting also proved effective in ensuring the campaign message reached and motivated the appropriate audience.
As a marketer, you can incorporate this technique into your campaigns. This approach will enable you to craft a more personalized message and effort, ensuring focused attention from your target market.
- Effective campaigns ensure that the main message, medium, and partners are aligned with the same goals.
MilkPEP’s campaign demonstrated that the campaign team was able to address relevant issues, partner with the right organizations, and foster inclusivity in their efforts.
This shows that you can look at different angles of your brand to connect with your audience in a more forward-thinking way. Just like MilkPEP, you can also address certain issues while advocating your organization’s mission with teams that share similar goals with you.
We hope this article motivated you to elevate your marketing through OOH efforts!
If you’ve successfully crafted a comprehensive plan for your campaigns, then you’re one step closer to achieving your dream of a successful campaign.
Stay creative, marketers!
About The Dynamic Marketing Communiqué’s
“Fridays: Gorillas of Guerrilla Marketing”
Jay Conrad Levinson (1984) said that Guerrilla Marketing “works because it’s simple to appreciate, easy to execute, and inexpensive.”
Guerrilla Marketing is unconventional.
Looking beyond the traditional ways of advertising, marketers and advertisers need to spice things up in order for their brand to have campaigns that not only make an impact but also stick to their target market’s mind.
Guerrilla Marketing usually aims to have direct contact with consumers.
This type of direct contact should spark an emotional reaction that leads to consumers effectively remembering the brand.
It’s about making a big impression and making that impression last a long time (if not forever).
Guerrilla Marketing can be inexpensive.
The effect of this is being able to create a buzz around the brand, and the strategy used to market it. Almost everything is passed around through word-of-mouth.
Word-of-mouth is one of the greatest outcomes and it usually doesn’t cost anything.
This is every business’ or brand’s dream!
Every Friday, we publish tips, examples, and other useful content on unconventional ways of marketing and promotion.
Learn more about how to grab your target market’s attention and make an amazing first and lasting impression without having to spend a lot of money.
Businesses don’t really need to spend much for a guerrilla campaign. You do not need a big budget to be successful. You just need creativity and a good imagination.
Hope you find this week’s guerrilla marketing insight interesting and helpful.
Stay tuned for next Friday’s “Gorillas of Guerrilla Marketing!”
Cheers,
Kyle Yu
Head of Special Projects
Valens Dynamic Marketing Capabilities
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