‘Dads #ShareTheLoad’ – an social movement for deeper social change that spoke to dads by shining a mirror at their actions and showing them that they have the power to end the cycle of gender inequality in the home by sharing the load.

The movement was led by a poignant film about a dad's self-realization and conversion, and about setting the right example by helping with laundry.

As the video went viral, Ariel launched the Share the Load pack with a unique calendar that divided the laundry task between men and women equally – odd days for him, even days for her. To take the odd-even message to every Indian household, Ariel tied-up with Kalnirnay – a calendar found in almost every Indian home, a calendar that most Indians follow religiously to keep track of the good and bad days.

Another strong influencer that joined Ariel in creating positive change was Tinkle –the most popular comic book amongst Indian children. Tinkle is now committed to incorporate the share the load message in their stories with kids’ favorite characters sharing the responsibility of household chores, thus making gender equality a part of popular culture.

Dads #ShareTheLoad created a movement that resulted in:

• 50 million views and counting

• 2 Billion Impressions

• So far over 2.1 million men pledged to ShareThe Load

• Earned media: $11 million and counting

• Sales up by 76%

• Engagement went up 4.6 times (the highest ever)

Dads #ShareTheLoad – is a movement for deeper social change that spoke to dads by shining a mirror at their actions and showing them that they have the power to end the cycle of gender inequality at home by sharing the load. This was brought to life with strategically developed branded content, packaging,s promos, tie ups that sparked a national conversation.

For 2016, the client brief was to go deeper with Share the Load: how can Ariel create deeper social change around the issue of gender inequality at home – where its product’s ability to wash away stain in one wash so that both men and women can do the laundry, plays an essential role.

We knew gender inequality at home was a relevant issue. Digging deeper, we realized the root cause for this was the passing down of this prejudice from one generation to the next: children learning the behavior by watching their dads and growing up to imitate what they’ve seen at home. This led us to ‘Dads #ShareTheLoad’ – a movement for deeper social change that spoke to dads by shining a mirror at their actions and showing them that they have the power to end the cycle of gender inequality by sharing the load.

Ariel is a leading premium detergent brand in India. The problem it was facing was loss of emotional equity and relevance.

To tackle this, Ariel launched – #ShareTheLoad in 2015, a provocative social movement that focused not on clothes stains, but on the cultural stain of gender inequality at home by raising an important question ‘Is laundry only a woman’s job?’ This brought the issue of gender inequality out of the four walls of the home to make it a national conversation.

For 2016, the client brief was to go deeper: how can Ariel create deeper social change – where the product and the brand plays an essential role and as a result drives a deeper relevance for the brand.