DADS, The Movie
Dove Men+Care partnered with Ron Howard and Bryce Dallas Howard to create DADS, a feature-length documentary exploring modern fatherhood. Bringing attention to the critical role fathers play and the importance of paternity leave, this film is an unfiltered and humorous look at being a dad. As lead writer, I was responsible for crafting all branded content that then became the film —from writing interview questions for the celebrity cast to creating social media buzz teasing the film’s release. Dove Men+Care’s mission was simple: to champion paternity leave and make it accessible for men everywhere.
The Launch
Prior to the release of DADS, Dove Men+Care launched its mission by tapping celebrity dad and co-founder of Reddit, Alexis Ohanian. Alexis appeared on morning shows across the country to speak about Dove Men+Care’s $1million fund to help provide paternity leave for expecting dads. Fathers everywhere were able to apply for a $5,000 grant from the brand to help support their choice to be home with their babies, starting at day one.
Filming
On the set of DADS, we filmed candid interviews between Bryce & Ron that became the branded trailers and online content for the film.
Dadmojis
Looking to bring our mission to the web, we noticed there’s a place where dad’s role as caregiver is routinely overlooked —emoji keyboards. For the pre-launch of DADS, we wanted to show a more inclusive representation of today’s modern family, and created a full-range of modern dadmojis. Next, a comprehensive, 8-page petition was written and submitted to Unicode, asking for more inclusive caregiver representations on emoji keyboards. Then we brought the conversation to Twitter and Instagram to ask people what they thought. And in January 2020, our rallying cry was heard.
Unicode instituted an emoji for dads feeding their babies.
DADS Swag
As a way to say “thank you” to all those involved in the film, we created a range of DADS swag —complete with a custom Ronmoji and matching cap for Ron Howard.
