By Robert Goldrich

LOS ANGELES --

Procter & Gamble/Always’ “LikeAGirl” directed by Lauren Greenfield of Chelsea Pictures for Leo Burnett, Toronto, Chicago and London, won the primetime commercial Emmy Award during the Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremony on Saturday evening (9/12) at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

The Emmy win is the latest accolade bestowed upon “LikeAGirl.” Earlier in the awards season, the piece earned such honors as Grand Prix distinction at Cannes, Advertising Excellence/Single Commercial Best In Show at the AICP Show, and a pair of AICP Next Awards. The work also garnered Greenfield a DGA Award nomination.

The “#LikeAGirl” social experiment sought out how people of all ages interpret the phrase, “Like a girl.” The video captured negative and positive feedback. Ultimately the initiative took the negative “like a girl” stereotype (you run “like a girl,” throw “like a girl”) and turned it into an empowering movement celebrating the strength and willpower embodied in doing things “like a girl.” The campaign’s centerpiece video has generated a staggering 4.5 billion online impressions worldwide and a broadcast version ran during this year’s Super Bowl.

Judy John, CEO/chief creative officer of Leo Burnett Canada, said, “It’s been great to see Always’ '#LikeAGirl' transcend advertising into popular culture.” As for the biggest creative challenge that the Always initiative posed to her and her colleagues, John earlier told SHOOT, “The biggest challenge was shooting a social experiment and hoping that experiment proves your theory to be true and provides content that will be compelling to watch. We had theories about what would happen when we asked people to doing things ‘Like a Girl’ and how they felt about it but you really don’t know until you get people in the room and start asking the questions. The subjects in the film are not actors; they are everyday people who answered to a casting call for ‘real people.’”

Regarding the choice of filmmaker for the Always short, John recalled, “We considered a handful of directors for the '#LikeAGirl' project. The creative team sent me a link to Lauren’s work and they followed it up with a copy of her book ‘Girl Culture.’ You can tell from looking at her body of work, that she really gets girls and women and what they go through. Just by looking at her work, we had a feeling this was the perfect match up. And after talking to Lauren, we knew she was the absolute best director for this film.”

P&G/Always’ “#LikeAGirl” topped a field of Emmy-nominated spots this year which also consisted  of: Nissan’s “With Dad” directed by Lance Acord of Park Pictures for TBWAChiatDay; Gatorade’s “Made In New York” directed by Henry-Alex Rubin of Smuggler, also for TBWAChiatDay; Budweiser’s “Lost Dog” helmed by Jake Scott of RSA Films for Anomaly New York; Snicker’s “Brady Bunch” directed by Jim Jenkins of O Positive for BBDO New York; and Adobe’s “Dream On” from Goodby Silverstein & Partners and directed by Brady Baltezore and Mike Landry of Goodby’s in-house eLevel Studio.

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