Brief

To follow up on last year’s brand positioning campaign, we launched a brand activation featuring real parents reflecting on their experiences of parenthood. In this activation, we invited a group of parents to confront their own views on perfection and get to the bottom of where that pressure comes from. 

Insight

While there are plenty of global studies that point towards increased pressure to be perfect as a result of the images of perfection we see on social media, there is little to no data specific to expectations of parenthood in Scandinavia. The campaign was therefore supported by a YouGov survey asking over 1,200 Danish parents about their own experiences. The data revealed a society at odds.

On one hand a carefully curated image of perfect parenthood prevails, particularly on social media. While on the other hand, women and men feel this image is even more disconnected to their own experience of parenthood. The study uncovered that in a culture saturated with social media images of perfect family life, 81% of people think society’s expectations are unrealistic, affecting their ability to be present with their children and value their time together. 

Solution

Don’t Be Perfect, Be Present focuses on parents who go to great lengths to impress the only ones who really matter – their kids – no matter how it makes them look to the rest of the world. At the centre of the campaign is a short film directed by Thor Zing Lodberg (Production company: Mellow).