Each installment also includes information about how Procter & Gamble is addressing the theme of the episode. The segment on keeping girls in school, for example, features the work that Always, Whisper, and Orkid—P&G's feminine protection brands—are doing to provide puberty education in emerging market countries. P&G "is genuinely committed to putting social good at the center of their business model," says Evans. "Activate was a logical extension of that model."
The marketing world is closely watching Activate and other projects like it: Cincinnati-based P&G is one of the largest advertisers in the world, spending $2.9 billion in the U.S. last year. If corporations find it more effective to fund—and play a supporting role in—documentaries and narrative storytelling, it would whipsaw an industry that's struggling to engage audiences and win their loyalties.