Dive Brief:

• Coty beauty brand Sally Hansen launched its first global brand campaign with "Shetopia," a short film highlighting self-made women in a world where many gender stereotypes have been eliminated or reversed, per a press release from the company. Men fight for equal pay for themselves while professional female athletes play on one team alongside men.
• The film was produced, directed and shot by a nearly all-female crew and features nine real-life women with varied backgrounds including an attorney, founder of an all-female motorcycle group, soccer player, fashion blogger and jeweler. All are also social influencers. 
• The campaign is a "cheeky, yet unapologetic visual interpretation of a female-driven reality," per the release, which claims it encapsulates the progressive views of the brand's founder Sally Hansen from 60 years ago.

Dive Insight:

In the nearly two-minute clip, Sally Hansen mixes fantasy with authenticity by featuring real-life self-made women inhabiting an alternate view of reality. The aim is to inspire viewers and position the brand as a progressive and gender-positive leader. This effort joins a growing trend of campaigns intended to connect with consumers through promoting gender equality.

Done correctly, there are often benefits to integrating this positivity in a marketing message. A recent study from Facebook found that 79% of women and 75% of men favor brands that promoted gender positivity in their messaging, and a separate study found that 36% of respondents said they liked a brand more when its ads went against stereotypes and 25% reported they'd be more likely to buy from those brands.

A number of brands have taken on trying to break down gender stereotypes, including P&G's "Like a Girl" award-winning campaign for its Always brand. In 2017, a few marketers have taken on male stereotypes, including Unilever and Lululemon. 

Shetopia is an interesting choice as the first global campaign for a company the size of Coty with its around $9 billion in revenue and status as one of the world’s largest beauty brands. Instead of a more traditional TV, print and social media rollout that might be expected from a beauty brand, the Sally Hansen effort is tapping an influencer-driven campaign with an emotional appeal.

The strategy seems fitting given recent research from TV and digital video analytics firm Ace Metrix on breakthrough video ads in Q3 that found ad content that featured compassion, kindness and ingenuity scored highest on attention and likeability.