Maybelline New York believes that everyone should feel free to express themselves, to play and to create. However, the online gaming world is one place where some can’t. Due to the constant abuse faced by female identifying gamers online many hide their identities and play in silence, or not at all. In fact, most do not feel comfortable in this environment to express their true selves, play in an equitable manner or share their experiences through social media platforms - which flies in the face of every aspect of the aforementioned brand purpose.

The evidence that people suffer from skyrocketing amounts of harassment online also links to the brand’s existing platform Brave Together, a global mental health program to destigmatise anxiety and depression, and direct individuals to support services.

We felt it was time to change the game for good, and create safer spaces for everyone to play.

The Through Their Eyes film documents a social experiment in which we used live voice-changing technology, to disguise two prominent Australian male gamers as female players in an online first-person shooter game. Within less than two hours of play they were bombarded with offensive language and aggressive behaviour. Throughout the filming two high-profile female gamers and Twitch streamers watched on to witness the all-too-familiar scenes.

All four gamers regroup afterward to have a candid discussion about the events that just transpired, the real female gaming experience and what needs to be done to have an immediate and lasting positive impact. At the film’s conclusion, it was clear that the two male gamers had experienced what it was like to play through a woman’s eyes.

Our strategy was not just simply to shine a light on an existing problem, but to amplify the silent voices, and create allies both male and female in the online gaming world.

The core asset was the 3-minute film documenting the social experiment that saw our two male gamers pose as female players in a first-person shooter. And the round table discussion with all four gamers, both male and female-identifying, dissecting the recent events and the importance of making immediate change. It was shared out by our influencers with a combined audience of 13.5M. As well as featuring on the owned media channels of Maybelline New York and charity organisation ReachOut, national and international media outlets and was screened live at the Eyes Up Cup national gaming tournament, streamed to 17M+ Twitch followers of the 32 professional female gamers participating.

Launching Feb 23, 2023, the film was shared on the social channels of our influencers with a combined audience of 13.5M. As well as featuring on the owned media channels of Maybelline New York and charity organisation ReachOut, national and international media outlets and was screened live at the Eyes Up Cup national gaming tournament, streamed to 17M+ Twitch followers of the 32 professional female gamers participating. Most notably the campaign was organically picked up by UN Women in the lead up to IWD and shared across all their social channels, who commented that the film was “... difficult to watch, but shows we still have a long way to go”.

The campaign achieved a total 449.9M global impressions and an earned media reach of 276.5M+. Of this, 29 articles featured in international gaming news outlets, achieving a cumulative earned media reach of 65.2M+ gamers.

Through social listening we saw a dramatic gender shift in campaign engagement:

Before: Female 72%, Male 28%

Weeks 1 - 2: Female 61%, Male 39%

Weeks 3 - 4: Female 47%, Male 53%

We’ll repeat the research in 6 months to assess evidence of reduced harassment and long-term behaviour change. Leading indicators suggest, in conjunction with increased conversation, participation with Reach Out and healthy positive social sentiment, that shifts in behaviour will be observed.

In terms of brand perception, the campaign positively impacted on the Maybelline brand achieving their highest ever mascara market share 51.93%, outpacing the market by 5x in unit sales, with +19.7 percentage points of market penetration vs last year.