The AAPI community has faced centuries of discrimination in America. But in the years surrounding COVID, divisive rhetoric and acts of violence created a disturbing new climate of bias against Asian-Americans. In the last two years, anti-Asian hate crimes increased 300%+.

P&G faced a pressing challenge: to drive meaningful action on behalf of a hurting group and create change through empathy. Advocating for equality and inclusion on behalf of communities is a critical component of P&G’s mission as a force for good and growth. To continue this mission, the campaign needed to strike a powerful, emotional chord with the “Moveable Middle,” to build an understanding of AAPI pain and ignite positive intentions.

The benchmark: Meet or exceed the 74% of viewers who had a positive emotional reaction to P&G’s iconic “The Talk” campaign in 2017, and the 73% who said they would think or act differently.

Regardless of how long the AAPI community has lived in the U.S., they’re more likely to be “perpetual foreigners.” 30% have been told to “go back to their country.”

The most acute form of othering is around Asian given names, often holding deep significance, but are willingly replaced with anglicized versions to avoid microaggressions like misidentification and mispronunciation. Because targeting people’s names tells them they don’t belong, and when society singles people out, it makes them targets for violence — one in six AAPIs experienced a hate crime in 2021.

The truth of the campaign came from the heart. The all-Asian team drew from painful, lived experiences with bias, landing the insight: Seemingly simple acts, with little effort, like learning someone's name, can help everyone feel like they belong. Something we knew would resonate on both sides of the issue, because the ask was small and the effect was huge.

P&G aimed to reach two audiences: the “Moveable Middle” and the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community.

1. The Movable Middle are non-Asians who sit in the middle of the racial equity spectrum between AAPIs who experience racism and those who are hostile or deny that racism exists. They’re often the silent majority who desire equality, but may be unaware of how seemingly innocuous actions can affect the AAPI community.

We wanted the Moveable Middle to understand the impact of AAPI discrimination and be part of the solution.

2. AAPIs in the U.S. have been largely ignored in discussions of racial equity. They’re often the ‘model minority,’ which underplays the impact of racism. But today, 72% of AAPIs claim that discrimination is their biggest source of stress and half report that they don’t feel safe going out.

We wanted AAPIs to know that their discrimination is “seen.”

The campaign launched during Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, creating moments of humanizing connection across a three-phase path to action:

Phase 1: We tapped into P&G’s employee networks to pre-seed the campaign and enroll ambassadors, helping them start social conversations with a “Share Your Name” tool that enabled them to teach the world how to pronounce their name.

Phase 2: We launched the film with paid support across TV, digital and social, working with AAPI luminaries — Michelle Yeoh, 楊紫瓊 (Yeoh Choo Kheng) and Daniel Dae Kim, 김대현 (Geem Day Hyun) — to amplify the message and encourage AAPIs to share their stories.

Phase 3: We provided additional resources on P&G’s site that unpacked anti-Asian bias, with conversation guides to spark meaningful dialogue. Social extensions engaged the community further by inviting them to share the significance of their given names using #OurNamesBelong as a badge to proudly display.

• 4B Impressions

• Coverage in 694 media placements

• Highest shareability in P&G’s testing database at 2x the norm

• 382K organic engagements in social / digital, with an outpouring of #OurNamesBelong stories

• 164M website visits, averaging 5+ minutes

• 91% of AAPIs felt supported

• 90% of Moveable Middle agreed that “The Name” helped them empathize with AAPIs

• 82% of Moveable Middle reported that the simple call-to-action will positively affect future actions

Beyond numbers, “The Name” sent a lasting message of understanding, visible in countless posts such as this one:“This film moves me to tears, it reminds me of growing up with a Chinese name in America. A name is not just an ID…, [it’s] your family, history, culture. When you take the time to learn someone’s name, you show appreciation for who that person is.” – Ming Na Wen, 溫明娜