What does it really mean to be a man? What does society expect of us? And if an alien came down from outer space, how would you explain all of this to him/her?

These are the questions we sought to answer with a short film entitled, “A Man Like You.” It’s the story of an alien who discovers how to be a man with the help of a young boy. Each lesson is a window into a larger conversation—how to walk, how to take care of yourself, when to be afraid. But through the alien’s journey to manhood, it is the boy who learns that the traditional rules imposed on men are too limiting for today’s world.

Because after all, the story is not about an alien at all, but instead about the boy and the idea that “being a man” is ultimately about realizing the rules don’t exist.

The three-minute film debuted online on February 26, 2018 with a campaign in social and digital in the US and UK that ran through April 8.

First and foremost, the media plan was built to achieve as many efficient views of the full film as possible, via a combination of online video content distributors like Hulu and YouTube, and of course all of Harry’s social media platforms. But we also wanted to create a meaningful 360-parntership with publishers to distribute the film and position it as a must-see, authentically.

In conjunction with Washington Post Brand Studio, Harry’s hosted a screening of the film at NeueHouse in New York for nearly 100 influential attendees, followed by a panel discussion with six men around what it really means to be a man today. Additionally, a partnership with NowThis was used to promote the film and spur conversation through a branded content series.

In six weeks, the film garnered more than 49 million views with over 4.5 million completed views of the full three-minute film. Excluding Harry’s paid social, the completion rate on other paid channels (including YouTube, Hulu, Turner digital properties, WashingtonPost.com and across AcuityAds ad network) was 25%, almost 2.5x our benchmark of 11%.

Additionally, the film achieved over 200K social engagements including overwhelmingly positive comments despite the fact that Internet conversation surrounding the topic of masculinity is overwhelmingly negative. The film was featured in the press by influential publications including GQ, Esquire, Wired, The Telegraph and more as well as industry press in AdWeek, Creativity, Communication Arts and others.

In total, the campaign received more than 146 million impressions.