On International Women’s Day, Microsoft’s Make What’s Next campaign launched alongside our new initiative, the Patent Program. The Patent Program is an annual commitment from Microsoft that will sponsor girls by providing them with a team of experts to help realize their ideas and apply for a patent.

The launch video got to the heart of the problem. We asked young girls if they could name any inventors. They quickly named male inventors. However, when asked to name female inventors, their answers, or lack thereof, proved there is a concerning lack of awareness around female inventors.

However, there are tons of female inventors, we used the launch video to celebrate these women and educate the world about their incredible contributions, making them household names like Einstein or Franklin. It also served as a call to action for young girls to #makewhatsnext and participate in the Patent Program.

The Make What’s Next campaign launched on March 7, 2016. The following day, the Patent Program was announced during the International Women’s Day Conference at the UN. The launch video was released in over 60 markets and led people to our landing page, which offered girls the tools to #makewhatsnext. Girls learned more about other aspiring female inventors, and a live carousel featured what people were making and sharing using the hashtag. Girls could also learn about other programs Microsoft sponsors such as DigiGirlz, the YouthSpark Hub and of course, the Patent Program.

The campaign continued in Austin where we invited girls interested in the Patent Program to talk to role models in tech at SXSW. Girls learned about the patent process and asked questions to help get their projects going. The Patent Program will be an ongoing annual effort, helping girls obtain patents and keeping them interested in STEM.

Makewhatsnext’s impacted more than the brand. It reignited curiosity in culture with searches for the term “women inventors” reaching a 3 year high!

Launch alone saw over 14k mentions in Twitter from over 12k individual handles. Since then the campaign has had over 14million views, creating over 184 million media impression across channels. It received a unanimously positive response, with over 754K shares with a consistently positive sentiment of 99.8%.

The campaign drove a 50% increase in engagement on the website, and resulted in 23% lift in searches for “Microsoft”. It delivered a 28 point delta increase on brand attributes such as “Microsoft is a brand I love”.

However, these numbers only supplemented our true victory:

“Sharing with my 6th grade science classes 1st thing tomorrow! Important for boys and girls to recognize there are women who have made amazing contributions that make our world a better place” – Facebook.

Can you name three female inventors?

It’s not easy, and this realization sparked a global conversation concerning the lack of awareness and recognition of women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math).

Rather than pointing out the problem, Microsoft took action. We began by educating girls about the incredible contributions of female inventors, showing them anything is possible with STEM. Microsoft then launched the Patent Program. An annual initiative that provides girls with the tools and guidance to obtain a patent. The program is the first of it’s kind to help women acquire patents.

Across all cultures, the existing perception is that women are less capable in science and technology . Over the years the social conversation about intellectual parity between men and women, especially within STEM has become a “me too” platform; where brands lean-in to offer passive commentary on the problem.

Our strategy strived to go beyond and offer a substantive solution. Microsoft empowers people to achieve great things. With the Patent Program, Microsoft empowered young girls to realize their love of science.

Launched through an online video, (knowing that teens spend approximately 9 hours per day online for school or for homework); the program helped young girls with ideas become inventors and future role models.

Microsoft’s powerful message then spread through broadcast and an activation at SXSW to spark a conversation not just with young girls but their influencers too. MakeWhat’sNext wasn’t a tactic to sell something, it was a determined action meant to bridge a gap.

Only 7% of US patents are held by women, at the current rate it will take 140 years to reach gender parity. As a member of the science and technology community, Microsoft felt compelled to take action.

Our brief: Challenge the gender stereotypes, celebrate female role models in STEM (Science, Technology and Math) and encourage girls to get involved.

Microsoft’s goal is to inspire young girls through celebrating famous women in STEM. By giving them new role models, we hope to change these numbers and increase the amount of women pursuing STEM, as well as the cultural perception that women don’t like science.