Using celebrity engagement to keep millennials safe

The Challenge

SABRE is the leading manufacturer of personal safety tools including pepper spray and personal alarms. A staple among law enforcement agencies across the world in top forces such as the NYPD, SABRE was looking elevate the conversation about personal safety, dispel myths around pepper spray and increase comfort of use with millennial women. The main goal of our program was to grow SABRE brand awareness and product sales with women ages 18-35.

Strategy and Execution

To give support and context to our efforts, we surveyed 1,000 women to get their perception of pepper spray, their personal safety habits and safety while at work and commuting to and from their job. The data gave us several important insights and validated our need for continued education and consumer outreach around pepper spray, most notably within the millennial age group.

Using the survey results to validate our problem, we developed a strategic approach to spread our key #SafeIsSmart messages to this audience.

We aligned the brand with strategic partners and influencers whose followers were already engaged with their content and were trusted by our target audience. Tactics included celebrity partnerships with up-and-coming stars like Sophia Bush to promote National Sexual Assault Prevention Month in April, Breast Cancer Awareness in October and influencer seeding for Spring Break and Halloween Safety awareness program.