Instagram’s Biggest Campaign Yet Urges Creators to Ditch Self-Doubt

Creative expression shouldn’t be hampered by self-doubt or worries about others’ opinions, according to Instagram’s biggest campaign in its 15-year history. 

Instagram’s “Anyway,” created by Uncommon Creative Studio, continues the Meta-owned platform’s push to lure creators. It stars Tyler, the Creator, plus a group of other high-profile talent, in a series of films and activations to inspire creative risks.

“It’s not just a brand campaign but our belief, why we exist, and what our platform is about,” Eshan Ponnadurai, Meta’s head of consumer marketing, told ADWEEK.

The first ad, released today, features rapper and producer Tyler, the Creator giving a pep talk to a young woman who hesitates to share her work. 

“You’ve got to be okay with looking crazy,” he tells her. “Always put you first. At the end of the day, when you’re in the room by yourself, do you like it?” 

The spot pulls from a live, unscripted Q&A that Tyler, the Creator held with young creators, encouraging them to lean into creative risktaking. That approach is also how Tyler, the Creator uses Instagram, which made him the “right hero and representation of our message,” said Ponnadurai.

Instagram is also collaborating with singer Rosalía; record producer Fred Again; director Cole Bennett; designer Clint Ogbenna (known online as Clint 419); visual artist Nadia Lee Cohen; and artist and designer Olaolu Akeredolu-Ale (known online as Slawn), each of whom has found success on the platform. 

“This is getting back to our mission… that anyone can be creative and anyone can express themselves,” Ponnadurai said. “This is a culmination of that belief on many different fronts as Instagram the platform and the brand.” 

The campaign will run on TV, including during the NBA Playoffs, as well as out-of-home and Meta’s own platforms. The creatives featured in the campaign will also post the messaging on their channels. The company declined to share media spend figures. 

New features and investments

Instagram is promoting recently added features to address some creators’ hesitation to share work online. They include quiet posting, which allows users to post new content to their profile without alerting their followers, and Trial Reels, which allows users to post Reels to non-followers first.

After using Trial Reels, 40% of creators started posting Reels more often, and of those who did, 80% saw an increase in Reels reach from non-followers, Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, wrote in a blog post. The figures came from internal Meta data analyzing about 400,000 creators.

Instagram is also launching a new initiative, Drafts, that will see it invest in and support up-and-coming creators. Though it did not specify the level of its investment, the company has already selected some creators for the program, including photographer Tyrell Hampton and singer Sailorr. 

“It’s essentially us offering an incubator program to creators to help them take their next creative chance,” said Ponnadurai.