Our country continues to wrestle with equality; whether it’s race and racial profiling, gender and sexual identity, or women’s rights. Even after landmark court rulings, topics like women’s rights are still hot – from equal pay, to misconduct, to representation in positions of power. The lack of gender parity in creative, media, and tech industries has led to movements like #MeToo and #TimesUp. So it made absolute sense that Twitter, along with CMO Leslie Berland, would launch #HereWeAre, a necessary campaign to cast worldwide attention on the powerful women in the tech industry.

Beginning at Cannes Lions 2017 as a hosted event to celebrate women in the media, creative, and technology industries, Twitter set out to use that event to create an emotive film that highlighted and raised awareness of women as powerful figures; a film that could then reach a far larger audience online. Flash forward to CES and the creation of the panel of women tech industry leaders, #HereWeAre, a doubling-down on the message from Cannes 2017, of the importance of gender equity in all industries. This panel was made of all-female speakers who shared their stories, insights, and advice. Not only was it streamed live, the panel was one of the most talked about events at CES.

What kicked off #HereWeAre was the lack of female panel members at CES 2018. Recognizing our work with women from Cannes Lions 2017, Twitter and CMO Leslie Berland assembled the all-female panel for #HereWeAre within a week, and utilized the powerful film we created in Cannes as a companion piece to advance the message of the importance of including women in the conversation. Once the panel was set, Twitter would globally stream the event live from its platform, allowing for people to engage in the live stream, to comment, question, and converse using the hashtag #HereWeAre. Again, this served as an opportunity for Twitter’s marketing strategy, that further reinforced its values of equality.

#HereWeAre gained enormous traction and we wanted to give it a bigger platform still, transforming it from an industry benchmark to a consumer movement. Following the revelations that have empowered women in the film industry in recent months, resulting in the #TimesUp initiative, the 2018 Oscars provided the opportunity for us to show the world that gender equality is a staunch principle of Twitter’s. Taking our original film, shot at Cannes Lions, we repurposed and added a number of inspiring women working in the film industry, including one of the most important female directors of our time, Ava DuVernay. As part of the multi-channel approach, we spent Twitter’s biggest ever media budget on a 60-second TV advert in the US and Canada, reaching over 27 million people in North America, positioning Twitter at the epicenter of the gender equality fight in the industry that is being most transformed by it.

With the success of the Cannes Lions 2017 event and the resulting film reaching millions, Twitter parlayed the success into its launch of the #HereWeAre panel at CES – casting an even wider net of attention on the importance of women in industries. Twitter broadcasted the insights, stories, and advice from the women in tech panel on various global channels, including @Twitter, and even customized a Japanese version for Asian markets. This broad reach became an opportunity for us to create a Twitter marketing strategy as a driving force for change within these industries.

Inclusion and diversity are core values for how Twitter acts as a company. From the transparency over our equitable gender pay policy, to how our platform enables anyone to express themselves, these values are fundamental to Twitter’s existence. Unfortunately, we see too many instances in the media, creative, and technology industries – and our wider society – of these values not being standard. In particular, at CES – an important world technology trade show – the main-stage panel consisted of only men. As a leading player in the tech industry, we wanted to take the responsibility for Twitter to lead the change and empower people around the world to ensure equality of opportunity for women and girls. Twitter created a panel of women with #HereWeAre, a global live-streamed event to highlight powerful, distinguished women in the tech industry. Additionally, Twitter allocated a significant portion of our global marketing to fight this cause, using multiple channels to celebrate inspiring and aspiring women. #HereWeAre became a strategic marketing pillar which would allow us to act tactically when opportunities arose. What started as a dedicated event at Cannes Lions 2017, within a year, became a global movement – reaching over 30 million people.