Women the world over are challenged by educational and financial obstacles that restrict their ability to play transformative roles in their communities and society. In 2011, MasterCard marked its 25th anniversary in Asia and the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day with the launch of a region-wide campaign in partnership with UN Women Singapore - ‘Project Inspire: 5 Minutes to Change the World’. Young change-makers were invited to give a five-minute pitch of their idea for solving some of the most pressing issues for women to win a US$25,000 grant.

Year one was a moderate success on a tiny budget – the winner, The Hapinoy Program, sought to upskill 1,000 female micro-entrepreneurs in the Philippines. But we knew Project Inspire could be so much bigger, and in 2012 MasterCard asked us to evolve Project Inspire into a flagship CSR programme for the region.

The team’s strategy for Project Inspire 2012 hinged on direct engagement with consumers and influencers, including hubs on Facebook and Twitter.

More than 370 ideas for changing disadvantaged women’s lives for the better were pitched and Facebook content reached 4 million users worldwide. The 2012 winning proposal was a mobile app for sanitary education and the discreet sale of feminine hygiene products to women in rural India.

Project Inspire has created a platform for people around the world to further the cause of women’s empowerment and economic advancement. No longer a regional initiative, this second phase sparked a true movement, reaching advocates and supporters from 150 countries.

Project Inspire ran March 2012-August 2012. As well as calling for inspiring young people to pitch their ideas for life-changing programmes, mini-campaigns drove more meaningful interaction:

-Women in History. The team gamified the Facebook page, posting a scrambled picture of an influential/successful woman every week captioned: ‘Can you guess who this woman is? Like her photo to unscramble the puzzle, and tell us her name!’

-Vote for your favourite. To incentivise supporters to vote for their favourite project we launched the inaugural People's Choice Award, with voting via a Facebook app. Fans were encouraged to comment and share.

-Tag Thursday. Inspirational quotes around the theme of women’s empowerment were posted every Thursday. Visitors were encouraged to share/retweet.

We also made use of the new location-based targeting tool on Facebook and began posting geolocation targeted messages, celebrating key festivals with fans in Cambodia, Thailand, and other Asian regions.

Project Inspire is no longer a regional CSR initiative; it has become a global movement for women’s empowerment.

Output/Awareness

• Established an engaged community of 4 million supporters and advocates across 150 countries (Facebook: 30,300 fans – 71.6% interaction rate; 11,500 visitors to the voting app; 23m+ impressions; reach of 4m, 700+ comments during voting stage; Twitter: 460 followers; 343 retweets; 2.6M+ impressions)

• 100+ media hits across APMEA including, Australia, India, Middle East, the Philippines and Singapore

Knowledge/Consideration

• 98% of coverage included key messages; 100% was positive

• Channel NewsAsia has asked to become the media partner for Project Inspire 2013

Action/Business Impact

• Solicited 379 pitch submissions from 56 countries; the 2012 winner was a proposal for a mobile app for sanitary education and the sale of feminine hygiene products to rural women in India

• Support from prominent NGOs

• Highlighted as a successful public/private partnership at the Public Affairs Asia/Corporate Affairs Forum 2012