The campaign centered around the YouTube creators– seven young women from around the world, brought together by YouTube and the UN SDG Action Campaign to advocate for gender equality and encourage their fans to do the same. While the challenges women face in the US, South America, and the Middle East are very different, there are commonalities that the initiative highlighted (using your voice to speak in favor of positive change wherever and however you can).The combination of the creators’ individuals stories with their Change Ambassadorship served as a powerful reinforcement of the idea that women should feel empowered to both speak up and take action.

The hero (collaboration) video was posted on the YouTube Spotlight channel on March 8, 2016, International Women’s Day. This video kickstarted the campaign as the focal point for all #OwnYourVoice messaging. Simultaneously, each of the seven Change Ambassadors launched videos on their personal YouTube channels, while posting a variety of personalized content across their top social platforms. With the content and promotional posts working in tandem and sharing the #OwnYourVoice identifier, the depth and breadth of the campaign unified the viewership into a cohesive, multinational movement.

The campaign garnered 4M views and 300K+ engagements across 8 videos as well as over 100 press stories in top news outlets. As an activation used to generate awareness of gender equality issues within a younger demographic and to promote viewers to speak up against gender inequality, the work was a resounding success. For YouTube, the #OwnYourVoice campaign positioned the platform as not only a means of exposition, but as a thought leader in the public service space. For the UN SDG Action Campaign, this represented the opportunity to challenge young leaders to use their individual voices to influence for the greater good, raise awareness about the SDGs, and to encourage action on the issues contained within, especially related to gender equality.