In March 2020, state governments around the USA started issuing stay-at-home and shut-down orders in response to the rapid spread of COVID-19. Businesses closed-up, restaurants stopped serving, and most people shut themselves away for what became a long period of isolation.

There was one group of people that didn’t immediately heed the call: Gen-Z. While others understood the importance of social distancing, Gen-Z wanted to carry on life as usual. This meant that they could inadvertently prevent the country from flattening the curve of transmission and put millions of Americans at risk.

So, when Governor Mike DeWine of Ohio called, P&G – as a brand that is committed to being a force for good - knew it needed to act. This was an unprecedented moment in history, and we had to make as big of an impact as quickly as possible to get Gen-Z to socially distance and stay home.

#DistanceDance

TikTok was the social media craze sweeping the country, and dancing was the language of the platform. In order to raise awareness about the importance of physical distancing, we partnered with TikTok’s number one influencer, Charli D’Amelio.

Together we created the #DistanceDance Challenge to authentically engage Gen-Z across the country and spread the word about the importance of staying home. As an extra incentive to take part (who doesn’t love dancing??), P&G committed to donate to Feeding America & Matthew 25: Ministries to help families in need.

The entire country was talking at Gen-Z and telling them to stay home. Governors, celebrities, parents, teachers and more. The message was inescapable, but Gen-Z still wasn’t changing their behavior. We knew that admonishing and cajoling Gen-Z was never going to have the needed impact.

So our strategy was to make them part of the solution by finding a vehicle and voice that both resonated with Gen-Z and had a hook the media could not ignore.

Charli D’Amelio launched the challenge on TikTok on March 25th. It immediately took off, with celebrities such as Kristen Bell and Jason Derulo, a diverse group of TikTok influencers such as Jalaiah Harmon and Addison Rae, and sports teams such as the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Pistons all doing their version of the challenge and spreading the word.

To broaden the reach, we extended the campaign to Instagram and Twitter where we turned it into an RT challenge, and tapped into Instagram Live. We also expanded to artists and the musician community through the Motown Partnership with Let’s Dance.

The final piece was a lens we created with Snapchat playing into the native behavior on the platform and making #distancedance more accessible.

This multi-phased, coordinated effort ensured that we were able to take what started on TikTok and reach audiences across platforms, geographies and even age ranges.

#DistanceDance was a phenomenon that started with Gen-Z and then took over culture. We reached Gen-Z with an inspiring message and encouraged people to make a public commitment to stay home:

• The hashtag has over 17.7 BILLION views, making it the most viewed hashtag challenge ever

• Over 4.2m original videos – consumers’ active commitments - were created and shared across social platforms

• Charli’s most viewed video of all time with over 192M views

• National press and coverage, including Today Show, Access Hollywood, Entertainment Tonight, and SportsCenter.

Most importantly, it made young people all over the country feel like part of the solution. While we have no way of proving it was the only thing that changed the behavior of millions, we feel it heavily influenced them to stay home and socially distance. Hopefully saving lives along the way.