NBCUniversal’s Creative Impact Lab is the destination for nonprofit storytelling. The Lab provides grants to nonprofit creative agencies to produce marketing assets for other nonprofit organizations that tell their stories. This project aimed to tell the story of Girls Write Now (GWN), using digital and social assets targeting young women ages 14-24 eager to learn and grown as writers and leaders.
GWN provides one-on-one mentorship and writing opportunities to young women from historically and systemically underserved communities helping them develop their voices as both writers and leaders.
This campaign was produced by Reel Works’ emerging content creators, who received creative guidance from NBCU storytelling experts. These young apprentices understood how to create content that resonated with GWN’s target demographic.
Reel Works is an organization that offers free in school and after school programs that pair teens with professional mentors empowering them to share their stories through filmmaking.
The primary objectives were to create awareness for the work GWN is doing and to encourage interested young women to get involved. Reel Works produced 11 social videos for GWN that highlighted the confidence and empowerment they strive to instill in the girls who participate in its programs.
To take advantage of another key aspect of the Lab–donated ad inventory on the platforms of Comcast NBCUniversal–Reel Works produced a :30 PSA that featured a real-life mentor-mentee pair from GWN. The national on-air exposure presented a mass audience reach opportunity, so showcasing the benefits for mentors was a strategically apt decision.
Over the course of four months, Reel Works and its apprentices underwent a well thought out production process, meeting regularly with Girls Write Now and its NBCUniversal mentors to discuss the project, develop a creative concept, and eventually execute a video shoot.
In order to deliver on Girls Write Now’s desire to reach younger audiences via social media assets, Reel Works developed a strategy for capturing the testimonials of current Girls Write Now participants via self-taped “user-generated-content”-style videos. This posed a unique challenge, as in many cases the participants were situated in different locations and states.
Reel Works was resourceful in developing a filming strategy that made the participants’ distance and the lack of a standardized shoot aesthetic an asset instead of a hindrance. The Reel Works team developed social assets that felt organic, youthful, and true to the target audience, allowing each video participant to imbue their own sense of style and personality into the pieces.
After the :30-second PSA was completed, it received on air amplification across the platforms of Comcast NBCUniversal leading to over 1.5 million impressions and delivering on the project’s primary goal of broadening awareness for Girls Write Now’s work and mission.
Furthermore, Girls Write Now was able to use the social assets that were produced through the Creative Impact Lab to further its goals of connecting with its desired target audience and broadening awareness of its programs amongst potential participants.
The Reel Works and NBCU videos, including the sizzle reel, PSA, and user generated content, generated24,200 views and 5,253 impressions across TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. The videos reached over 5,771 accounts. The social campaign garnered 24,200 views and 5,253 impressions across TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. The videos reached over 5,771 accounts. These numbers are very strong in the context of other GWN social content.