Dive Brief:

• Secret Deodorant, the antiperspirant brand owned by Procter & Gamble, debuted a campaign celebrating female empowerment, the company revealed in a press release shared with Marketing Dive.
• The campaign centers around a TV ad featuring five celebrity women including singer-songwriter Jessie Reyez, who sings "All Strength," an original song made for the campaign. The lyrics are inspired by Secret's "All Strength, No Sweat" digital platform, a branded destination that celebrates active, hard-working women.
• The women in the spot also include actress Camila Mendes, WNBA player Swin Cash, actress Shenae Grimes-Beech and fitness expert Ainsley Rodriguez. The campaign debuted during the Golden Globes and will run on TV throughout 2020.

Dive Insight:

Secret has focused on female empowerment with the "All Strength, No Sweat" campaign over the past few years, and this latest effort will continue and help to strengthen that brand mission. The latest iteration features modern women working hard to break the glass ceiling in their respective fields.

The brand's partnership with a Grammy-nominated musician on an original anthem for the campaign comes as other brands have employed similar partnerships, including Oreo working with rapper Wiz Khalifa on an original tune. For these partnerships to succeed, brands must key into the authenticity of the artists. Working with Reyez, a singer-songwriter known for personal, confessional songs, aligns with Secret's past marketing efforts and could be a good fit for the brand.

Last winter, Secret ran a social media campaign around the "All Strength, No Sweat" platform asking female Instagram followers to share their stories of personal strength and success. Parent company P&G used the winning entries in a multichannel campaign throughout the year. The marketer also supported the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team, of which Secret is a sponsor, in the team's call for equal pay. Secret in July 2019 ran a full-page ad in The New York Times calling for women's equal pay.

In addition, Secret encouraged consumers to support female-owned businesses over the most recent holiday season by creating a directory of women-owned businesses on its Instagram page that featured shoppable videos. Inspired by the National Retail Federation's "Women-Owned Wednesdays" — a weekly promotion encouraging shopping at female-led businesses — the directory included 100 merchants across 10 cities. These cause-driven efforts all have real world components that could help Secret avoid accusations of "woke-washing."