BBDO launched a “Put Her on the Map” initiative to name streets and monuments after famous women.
Based around the insight that eight percent of public statues in the U.S. celebrate famous women, with street names sharing a similar imbalance, BBDO decided to launch an initiative to even things out a bit.
The “Put Her on the Map” initiative aims to draw attention to the issue and get more streets named after famous females throughout history, as well as more monuments dedicated to honor them. A video on the campaign landing site introduces the issue with a video of young girls listing some things that are named after women, like the lazy susan and Daisy Dukes.
“Who better to help magnify this point than young girls? Once you hear it directly from their mouths, you can understand the immediate reason why we need to honor women around our cities,” BBDO executive creative director Lauren Connolly told AdFreak.
The video debuted as part of the AOL-sponsored Makers Conference honoring “the trailblazing women of today and tomorrow.”
Since then, the agency has seen a lot of interest from potential collaborators including Pokémon Go creators Niantic, former U.S. chief technology officer Megan Smith and several unspecified BBDO clients.
The City of Los Angeles is also involved. “They want to do their part to start bringing greater recognition to those things in L.A. already named after women,” BBDO New York president Kirsten Flanik told AdFreak. “Hopefully it will be a story that continues.”