David Pullara

Jan 25, 20211 min

ADdicted: Today We Rise

On January 20, 2021, Kamala Harris was sworn in as Vice-President of the United States of America. In doing so, she became the first Black, South Asian, and woman to hold the position.

Sometime that same day, this advertisement was uploaded to YouTube:

When one girl rises, all girls rise.

It's remarkable how quickly this inspirational video was completed and published, given it uses audio and video from the inauguration that wasn't in existence until earlier that day.

It's even more remarkable how an advertisement simply showing people watching part of the inauguration can be so captivating.

But it's perhaps most remarkable that Girl Up, an organization I'll admit to not ever having heard about before this ad, persuaded me to visit their website immediately after watching it. If I had a dollar for every time that's happened over the past year... I'd have a dollar.

I went from "awareness", to "consideration", to "action" (assuming the action they wanted me to take was to visit the website) in the span of one minute and 19 seconds.

Watch this advertisement, then try to tell me "Brand Ads" are a waste of money.

Spoiler alert: they're absolutely, positively not when they're done well.

This one was done well.

- dp