Championing equality through marketing research: Plan International's campaign for girls' empowerment

Q&A with the 2023 Nonprofit/Social Enterprise Project award winner 

Editor’s note: BAMM New York is the winner of the 2023 Nonprofit/Social Enterprise Research Project Award, a category in the Marketing Research and Insight Excellence Awards. The award winners were announced during a virtual celebration on November 14, 2023. To learn more about the awards go to https://www.quirksawards.com/. 

On November 14, 2023, during a virtual celebration, BAMM New York was named the winner of the Nonprofit/Social Enterprise Research Project Award. Its project with Plan Interantional USA focused on the empowerment of girls in the U.S.  

This project positioned around “unleashing the Power of We,” a way of identifying the skill adolescent girls have with empathetic connections, teamwork and collectivism.  

“We are so grateful for [BAMM New York’s] partnership on this incredible campaign! Plan International USA recently surpassed our $200 million fundraising goal for the We Are the Girls campaign, in part because the messaging and visuals resonated so strongly with our communities,” a spokesperson for Plan International USA said. “The funds raised as part of the campaign are supporting girl-led programs that fight gender inequality internationally and in the U.S.” 

Anthony Martin, global CEO, BAMM New York, spoke about how winning this award gives more recognition to this issue. 

“Equality for girls is an important and often overlooked subject. The work that Plan International is doing helps improve the lives of millions of people. This campaign draws attention to the biases and subtle framing of information and the cultural conversation which holds girls back,” Martin said.  

Learn more about this great project in this Q&A with Martin.  

What kind of an impact did this project have on girls in the U.S.?   

The campaign helped girls challenge the stereotypes of what it means to be a girl today. The Plan International campaign has started to challenge the algorithm of unhealthy gender bias for adolescent girls, starting with Getty Images, replacing the labels with real people and letting girls decide how they want to be seen. 

What were some of the challenges you faced during this project? 

The subject matter, representation amongst adolescent girls, is sensitive and required a careful and nuanced research approach to avoid bias and ensure the girls were properly heard. BAMM consulted extensively with youth and child psychology experts, as well as the ethics and legal team at Plan International, to ensure that we were following both market research best practice as well as the highest ethical standards. 

Would you change anything about the project?  

We would expand the size and scope of the project because sadly we have only scratched the surface in terms of a global movement towards better equality for girls. Plan International has an international remit.  

In terms of insight/method approach, we would do more in-person ethnographies which provide richer context and understanding of the nuances in our target's lives. This would provide a greater voice for adolescent girls.