76 million young women around the world live with illiteracy. But there is little to no awareness of this. Literacy skills give you the freedom to live life the way you want, and provide a future for the ones you care about.
The work.
Major beauty brand Lancôme partnered with NGO CARE to provide literacy programmes across the world for young women. We helped create the three year programme and a major digital campaign to create awareness and engage audiences.
Write Her Future literacy programmes last for four years. In Morocco, the programme has a focus on young mother’s education. In Guatemala, women’s rights, and in Thailand, integration and independence. I was involved in the campaign project planning for each programme.
This involved the initial naming of the campaign, and all elements involved for the next four years; video scripts (long-form and social posts/stories), product offerings, programme research and development, editorials, press packs and a total social media overhaul of all Lancôme ambassadress’s (Lupita NYong’o, Kate Winslet, Issabella Rossellini, Lilly Collins, Penelope Cruz) social postings.
Three ambassadress’s initial postings (written by me) gaining over 700,000 impressions:
The project asked audiences to write their name, so that she could #writeherfuture. We created an on-site app, asking audiences to follow the lead of the Lancôme ambassadresses and upload a photo/selfie and use the app tool to literally write their name across the photo, and share on social platforms. These photos would then get added to the on-site Write Her Future gallery.
The facts.
- A child born to a literate mother is 50% more likely to survive beyond the age of five.
- Children born to a literate mother are more likely to read and write too.
- Literacy can transform a young woman's economic situation. Reading and writing help women to learn new skills and find ways to earn more money, securing their financial independence.
- People who can read and write are more likely to vote and therefore play a role in shaping their lives, their communities and society.
- If everyone could read and write, 171 million people could lift themselves out of poverty.