Brief:

• Facebook, MTV and the Ad Council partnered on a video series to promote female education in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Each episode of #wcwSTEM, which gets its name from the "woman crush Wednesday" trend on social media, profiles a female role model in the tech world, according to an announcement.
• The series appears on MTV's channel on IGTV, the video-sharing service that Facebook-owned Instagram launched in June. The first episode aired on Nov. 7 in advance of National STEM Day on Nov. 8, with future shows airing on Wednesdays through December. The series is part of a Facebook Anthology partnership, which pairs brands with publishers.
• The series is part of the broader She Can STEM campaign from the nonprofit Ad Council, whose partners include GE, Google, IBM, Microsoft and Verizon. The national public service campaign includes digital and social creative content, as well as TV and print advertising to showcase the achievements of women in science and technology.

Insight:

Facebook and MTV's series aims to reach girls ages 11 to 15 to encourage them to pursue an education in technical fields. As younger audiences consume more content through mobile devices and social media than older generations do, the Ad Council is adapting its strategy to reach these teenage audiences by broadcasting the series on IGTV. Eighty-five percent of teens report using Instagram at least once a month, according to a recent Piper Jaffray report, signaling that the series may see greater reach to target audiences through the Instagram video platform.

Instagram has made a push into original branded content since debuting IGTV in June. AB InBev this week launched a new campaign on the platform, following IGTV tests by Chipotle, Nike, Netflix, Warby Parker, Trader Joe's, Everlane and Gucci. Advertising on Instagram Stories and IGTV will likely grow increasingly important to parent company Facebook as its revenue growth has stalled.

For the Ad Council, the IGTV push allows the nonprofit to expand its She Can STEM campaign. The campaign is timely, considering the greater awareness of sexual harassment in the workplace, particularly in male-dominated industries like tech. Silicon Valley hasn't been immune to public outrage since the #Metoo movement first gained momentum at media and entertainment companies. Last week, Google employees staged a mass walkout to protest the company's handling of past incidents of sexual harassment after a report revealed that the search giant allegedly had paid millions of dollars in severance to male executives accused of misconduct, while keeping quiet about the incidents, per The New York Times.

Other mobile tech companies are making efforts to elevate women and minorities. Twitter last week hired God-is Rivera, former director of inclusion and cultural resonance at ad agency VMLY&R, in a newly created role as global director of culture and community. Rivera will help brands connect through the social network with communities like Feminist Twitter, Asian American Twitter, Black Twitter and NBA Twitter.