Summary
We collaborated with an anonymous client to explore how perfectionism, fear of failure, and language biases affect young girls’ creative confidence. Conducting the largest study ever done on play, we surveyed 61,532 respondents across 36 markets. The insights unveiled were striking, revealing a decline in girls’ creative confidence with age and the impact of societal messages on creativity. These findings fueled the clients campaign, launched on International Women’s Day 2024, featuring a press release, news coverage, a short film, and a guide for parents. The campaign sparked interest, with 1.8K mentions and a potential reach of 2.2 billion.

Objective/Brief
The clients corporate brand communications team sought our expertise to investigate how societal pressures, perfectionism, and language biases impact young children’s creative confidence, with a special focus on girls. They hypothesized that these factors contribute to a fear of sharing ideas and making mistakes, ultimately influencing girls’ creative development. The challenge was to design research that would validate or refute this hypothesis and provide actionable insights for brand storytelling and media engagement.

Our goal was to create an expansive, quantifiable study exploring these themes accessible to parents and children. The goal was to generate data that would inform our clients communications and event plans, supporting a broad range of brand initiatives. The research needed to be robust and insightful, enabling them to develop compelling narratives and campaigns that address the identified issues. By leveraging innovative measurement approaches and ensuring a thorough understanding of the communications challenge, we aimed to deliver findings that resonated with diverse audiences and drove meaningful conversations around creative confidence and gender bias.

Strategy
We employed a strategic research and reporting approach and the primary method was a detailed online survey capturing perceptions and behaviors related to perfectionism, fear of failure, and language biases among children and parents across 36 markets between December 2023 and January 2024. The survey engaged 61,532 respondents, including 36,000 parents and 25,532 children aged 5-12 years.

The findings underscored significant challenges faced by young girls: 76% of five-year-old girls expressed confidence in their creativity, but this declined with age, with two-thirds feeling anxious about sharing their ideas by age 12. Societal biases exacerbate this decline, with creative achievements by females seven times more likely to be labeled as “cute” or “pretty” compared to males, who are twice as likely to be praised for being “brave” or “innovative.”

The research highlighted pervasive societal messages of perfection, with over three in five girls feeling pressure to conform to unrealistic standards. Language plays a critical role, with nearly two-thirds of girls reporting that societal language reinforces a fear of making mistakes and discourages experimentation. Insights indicated fostering a growth mindset could significantly boost girls’ confidence. For instance, 80% stated they would be less afraid to try new things if mistakes were praised as learning opportunities, while nine in ten believed their confidence would increase if adults emphasized the creative process over final outcomes. We integrated touchpoints for data collection and analysis, identifying key trends and patterns. With a holistic view of the factors influencing creative confidence, we translated insights into actionable recommendations.

Execution/Implementation
The project’s execution involved a series of planned and innovative steps. The centerpiece was the comprehensive online survey conducted across 36 global markets. The survey’s originality lies in its dual focus on parents and children, enabling a comparative analysis of perceptions across different age groups and genders. This approach ensured the findings would be relevant and actionable for their diverse audience.

We crafted age-appropriate survey questions to engage children while providing deep insights into parental perspectives. To ensure the data’s reliability and validity, we employed robust sampling methodology and analysis to identify key trends and patterns, ensuring the findings were both accurate and meaningful. This revealed significant insights, such as the impact of societal labels on girls’ creative confidence and the decline in creative confidence with age. Furthermore, we collaborated closely with our clients stakeholders throughout this project, ensuring that the research design, execution, and analysis were aligned with the brand’s strategic objectives. Our collaborative approach facilitated the effective translation of research insights into actionable recommendations for our client communications and event plans.

Effectiveness of Assignment
The research had a significant impact on the client’s communications strategy and business outcomes. The findings provided a comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing children’s creative confidence, validating the clients hypothesis and offering actionable insights for future campaigns.

The quality of recommendations was evident in the successful execution of the “Play Unstoppable” campaign, launched on International Women’s Day 2024. The campaign included a press release, coverage in top-tier news outlets, an empowering short film titled “More Than Perfect,” and a “10-Steps to Fostering Creative Confidence” guide for parents, all featuring data from our study. The integration of research insights into the campaign’s narrative ensured that the messaging was both compelling and evidence based.

The campaign’s success was reflected in its substantial media coverage and audience engagement. During the first few weeks, the global campaign generated 1.8Kmentions and a potential reach of 2.2 billion across online news, blogs, forums, social media, and broadcast outlets. This extensive reach highlighted the campaign’s effectiveness in raising awareness about the issues of perfectionism, fear of failure, and language biases affecting young girls’ creative confidence.

The reliability of the research results was underscored by our rigorous methodology employed, including a large, diverse sample size; this rich and robust data provided the client with a solid foundation for its communications strategy, ensuring that the campaign’s messages resonated with a global audience.

The client leveraged our research findings to develop a compelling narrative that positioned client as a thought leader in promoting creative confidence among children. The campaign’s success demonstrated the commercial value of the research, enhancing brand reputation and driving engagement with key audiences.

This work is expected to have a lasting impact on future communications planning. The insights gained from the research will inform the development of future campaigns, ensuring that the brand continues to address important social issues and promote positive values. Additionally, the research methodologies and analytical approaches used in this project align with AMEC’s commitment to the Barcelona Principles and Integrated Evaluation Framework, ensuring that the evaluation was both comprehensive and aligned with industry best practices.

By providing a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities related to children’s creative confidence, we equipped the client with the knowledge and tools to drive meaningful change and continue its legacy of promoting creativity and innovation.