Springster is a mobile-first global brand created by Girl Effect, an international non-profit that builds media to help girls make choices and changes in their lives. Springster connects millions of girls in countries such as Kenya, Indonesia and Ghana with online content that’s designed to help them navigate the complexities that come with growing up and is available for free with no data charges.
Springster content covers issues girls care about from confidence, health, education, economic readiness and nutrition. The platform provides a space for girls to engage with topics like puberty, education, money management and relationships.
With an active presence on Facebook, Springster was extending its reach from South Africa to Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique and the DRC. In November 2019 through to April 2020, HelloFCB+ supported Girl Effect with its “Girl Possible” campaign, creating content focussed on encouraging girls to think about their aspirations for their future and economic goals.
“For the project, we had to start by really unpacking this idea of “economic readiness” and what it meant for different girls in different countries. Equipping and preparing yourself for the future is not a destination, but a journey, one that should continuously inspire and empower girls to feel positive about having aspirations, and this is what we wanted our campaign to echo,” said HelloFCB+ strategist, Dylan Visser.
The campaign came to life with content that continuously reminded girls to aspire towards the goals they set for themselves. “Our concept was based on the idea of hidden potential and how our Springster girls can work towards unlocking theirs. Girl Possible was created to not only remind our audience of that hidden potential, but to build confidence and give girls the tools they need to navigate their circumstance so they can talk about and achieve their aspirations,” said HelloFCB+ creative team, Humaira Chohan and Chané Keyser.
The campaign kicked off with a video about a girl facing comments from others about her aspirations in life, and how she was combating them. You can view the video here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=3549653348439408
Other content ranged from encouraging GIFs to informative posts that covered career advice, financial tips and “how-tos” all of which was translated into four different languages.
While Girl Possible featured hard-working content pieces, behind the scenes we worked with women across multiple countries to help bring our campaign to life and ensure it was rooted in girls’ realities.
With a combination of paid and on-page content, the campaign saw almost 40 000 video views and over 1.5 million engagements. During the 3-month period, the campaign shifted opinions of an estimated 18K users in South Africa, on the importance of talking about goals.
“We wanted to defy the statistics we found in our formative research that showed that girls were simply not talking about their career aspirations and goals. Through this campaign we wanted to get girls shouting about their hopes and dreams online and offline, sharing inspiration for each other and, critically, tangible stories of success with practical advice. We made conversations about female aspirations pervasive online for our target girls, meaning she was not only inspired by the stories but took action based on the tips,” said Laura Baines, Senior Programmes Manager at Girl Effect.
The campaign didn’t just encourage girls to set goals and think about their future – it became a place where they could learn more and grow within a community that understood them and their circumstances.
Having worked closely on all aspects of the campaign HelloFCB+ Social Media Specialist Mamello Sejake ended with the following: “It’s important that we’re cognisant of who we’re speaking to and that we’re never just creating ads, or just putting out a post. We’re always saying something and we’re always deliberate about who we want to speak to. This campaign forced us to think very carefully about the weight of our words and the power of words. I learned about healthier ways of discussing mental health with young girls, it was a reminder to keep checking my privilege and that my race, as well as my gender, doesn’t necessarily give me access to certain experiences. I had to keep asking myself what it means to be more human and what do human connections mean.”
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