Highlighter pens are used to mark important things – usually words or passages in printed and written texts. Everyone is aware of the benefit of such pens, even if they only remember them from their time as a student.
For our client, Stabilo, we wanted to turn this rational benefit into an emotional benefit by making it about more than just a pen, but about an attitude and purpose.
Describe the cultural/social/political climate in your region and the significance of your campaign within this context
This year the debate on gender equality reached a new global climax. Discrimination is one half of the narrative; disregarded female triumphs is the other. All too often in history women were upstaged; their work and success not mentioned. So, they never appeared in the annals of accomplishment unlike their male counterparts. That's why we thought about how we could rightfully participate to add something meaningful to the gender equality debate.
Describe the creative idea
2018 is the year to rewrite history with Stabilo Boss. We want to give women and their success stories the stage they deserve by – in the truest sense of the word – highlighting them.
Describe the strategy
Create awareness and an emotion connection for a functional product through PR generation.
We’ll do this by finding a socially relevant topic bigger than the product itself. We won’t put the product benefit in focus or the product itself on a pedestal. We’ll tell stories that empower and inspire. We want to turn Stabilo Boss into a means through which customers can connect with a bigger ideal.
Describe the execution
In the campaign, the yellow stroke of the Stabilo Boss highlights three women: NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson, U.S. First Lady Edith Wilson, and Austrian-Swedish physicist Lise Meitner. We don’t highlight them in texts, but in historic, black-and-white photos, where men are in forefront or centre of the visual. Thanks to the Stabilo Boss stroke, the previously unnoticed women now become the focal point. Combined with copy telling the story of their remarkable accomplishments.
Describe the results/impact
What started as ads in Germany turned into a global conversation. The campaign reinvigorated the equality debate and created a buzz, not only in traditional media, but across social media as well. Millions of people shared and discussed the ads or even suggested and celebrated other remarkable women on their social media accounts. Tweets reached up to 15 million impressions and interaction rates of 27%. In total, Stabilo mentions increased 97.4%. Not only did the campaign go viral, it has remained extremely relevant on multiple channels across the internet with at least 4.100 mentions every day, to date. Stabilo Boss inspired people to change the narrative of history by doing what it does best – highlighting the remarkable.