If you’re looking for a way to maximize your return on ad spend (ROAS), video production, and digital marketing campaigns, we’ve got a GEM™ for you. The GEM score is an open-sourced method of ensuring that your videos, print, and other marketing media present women and girls fairly and without unconscious biases. A score of more than 100 is considered high, unbiased, and “GEM positive.”
The Association of National Advertisers’ (ANA) developed the Gender Equality Measure (GEM) in 2016 as part of their #SeeHer initiative. Last year, the ANA revealed that GEM isn’t just a feel-good, do-good way of “woke-washing” your ads. Since women “make or influence 85% of all consumer purchases in the U.S.,” a high GEM actually creates higher sales. How much higher? According to a study by business analyst IRI®:
- Ads with the highest GEM-positive scores (i.e., more than 100) had the highest sales lift
- Ads with the lowest GEM scores had the lowest sales lift
- Ads with GEM scores >100 drove sales lift up to five times higher than ads with GEM scores <100
- Television programs with GEM scores >100 drove sales lift nearly twice as high as programs with GEM scores <100
- Incremental sales lift was even greater when ads with the highest GEM scores were incorporated into programs with high GEM scores
“Our GEM metric has added a new dimension for evaluating ads for gender equality,” said Shelley Zalis, one of #SeeHer’s co-founders and CEO of The Female Quotient. “We can now directly correlate positive GEM scores with increased purchase intent and actual sales lift.”
If you’re trying to convince women, girls, and those who love them to jump on your product or service, you’ve got to raise your GEM game.
How to get your GEM on
The GEM score is based on a series of questions that are posed to a consumer panel. The following questions are then scored based on how strongly each participant agrees or disagrees:
- I think highly of the way women are presented
- Women are presented in a respectful manner
- It is inappropriate how women are featured
- Women are presented in a manner where they can be seen as good role models for other women and young girls
#SeeHer offers GEM scoring for a full range of media and marketing products. You can sign up for:
- GEM Advertising — evaluates ad copy and storytelling messages
- GEM Digital — online video advertising up to 2 minutes in length
- GEM Global — tests TV commercials in more than 14 counties
- GEM Influencer — helps you identify role models with high social-media influence who speak positively about women and girls
- GEM Lift — provides sales measurement for TV campaigns to determine ROAS
- GEM Multicultural — measures accuracy and quality of portrayals of men and women in ads, particularly focused on Hispanic and African-American respondents
- GEM Programming — top Nielsen-rated shows are evaluated twice a year, so you know where to place your ad
- GEM Publishing — measures reactions to women in girls in nation’s top magazines
Of course, not everyone has the budget for an official GEM score, or even the budget to assemble their own panels to evaluate their video, print, and other marketing materials with the GEM questions. Luckily, another #SeeHer initiative suggests an easier way to make your media more gender-inclusive and empowering to women:
… Hire a woman-owned video production agency that employs female directors, cinematographers, editors, and more
One of the latest #SeeHer initiatives is the SeeHer Advertising Directors Study, which was released in the summer of 2019. The results suggest that hiring a woman-led digital media production agency increases your chances for making a positive impression on a female audience.
In the Advertising Directors Study, a 150-member consumer panel (composed of about half women and half men) rated how strongly they agreed or disagreed with the GEM questions after watching 288 30-second TV commercials. Only 49 (17%) of the commercials were directed by women, while 239 (83%) were directed by men. The study found that:
- 89% of women-directed commercials had GEM scores >100, when rated by women
- 72% of men-directed commercials had GEM scores >100, when rated by women
- Women-directed commercials rated four points higher than men-directed commercials, when rated by women
So, if you want to be more inclusive but don’t have the budget for a 150-member consumer panel and an official GEM score, the conclusion is clear: Hiring a woman-led digital media production agency director increases your chances for making a positive impression on a female audience.
Ezra Productions is an award-winning, woman-owned SoCal based video production company and digital media agency that employs female directors, cinematographers, editors, and more. Recently, we created a video campaign for Lowe’s Home Improvement to promote Habitat for Humanity’s #BuildHer campaign, which enlisted volunteers to build housing for underprivileged people during National Women Build Week. Our staff of women directors and crew hired a diverse group of SAG actresses to become the faces and heart of the campaign.
What does a high-scoring GEM look like? Here’s just one example:
Ask yourself the GEM questions:
- I think highly of the way women are presented – 100. They are all empowered women builders from different age groups and ethnic backgrounds, and they’re working together to make the world a better place.
- Women are presented in a respectful manner – 100. These women are building our future!
- It is inappropriate how women are featured – 100. Not at all.
- Women are presented in a manner where they can be seen as good role models for other women and young girls – 100. They are ideal role models.
It’s no surprise that even before knowing about the GEM score, we produced work that would later rank highly. This is because the campaign was executive-produced by a female, directed by a female, written by a female, casted by a female, and the list goes on. As of 2/7/19, the :30 video has been viewed 22,000 times and shared 56 times on Facebook. Learn more about that video production project here.
Ezra Productions is committed to working with women, minorities, and people of all ages to produce compelling, effective, and socially conscious branded content for our diverse roster of clients. Our video production team creates high-quality, shareable videos with the most cutting-edge talent in the SoCal and New York areas. If you want to create video marketing and ads that achieve high GEM scores and ROAS, contact Ezra Productions now!