Bodyform Blood
SCA Hygiene Products Ltd
Issue 40 | September 2016
Agency
AMVBBDO
Creative Team
Creative Directors Toby Allen Jim Hilson Copywriter Caio Maroni Giannella Art Director Diego Cardoso de Oliveira
Production Team
Agency Producers Edwina Dennison Kirstie Johnstone Production Company (film) Stink Director Jones+Tino Production Company (website content) Flare Editing Stitch Post Production Moving Pictures Company Sound Design 750MPH Photography Adam Hinton Web Design Poke
Other Credits
Strategy Sophie Lewis Pippa Morris Account Team Sarah Douglas Tamara Klemich Anna Holloway Bogi Horvath Director of Social & Cultural Innovation Gerard Crichlow Brand Parternships Director Matthew Harrington Editorial Director Bill Dunn Project Manager Hannah King Media Agency Zenith Optimedia
Date
June 2016
Background
Societal taboos around periods are being chipped away, helped by the huge success of P&G's 'Always like a Girl' initiative.
But they've not been completely removed.
There's still a reluctance to talk about many aspects of the menstrual cycle, not least how the body changes during the period and how that affects the generation of women for whom sports and keeping fit is a central part of their lives.
Idea
Bodyform's strategy was to become more than just a menstrual cycle product but a source of advice and help as well.
Its answer was a campaign called Red.
Fit, a content-led platform that provided women who wanted to keep fit all month with advice on key areas such as nutrition, exercise and even motivation, all tailored to different phases of the cycle.
The campaign launched with a film entitled 'Blood'. The film showed young women pushing themselves hard through various sports – cycling, ballet dancing, boxing, surfing, rugby – undaunted by any monthly cycle issues.
All the women bled in different ways but nothing stopped them. The film was distinctly edgy and provocative.
The content was created and amplified by a series of partnerships: Frame fitness classes; Leon food chain; and an Olympic motivational coach.
Results
The campaign launched in June and in the first two weeks achieved 4.8m views on YouTube and Facebook; a total reach of 200m-plus; and a 973% increase in visits to the Bodyform Facebook page.
Our Thoughts
Ad campaigns are never conceived entirely in isolation or in ignorance of what’s gone before. That’s normal and it’s perfectly ok.
The trick is for the newcomer to move the game on.
Bodyform owes a debt, I think, to two earlier campaigns. One was P&G’s ‘Always like a Girl’, which tackled the subject of periods among young teenagers. The other was Sport England’s ‘This Girl Can’, which both celebrated and empowered female athleticism.
The Blood.Fit campaign takes elements of both – taking on taboos and recognising the importance to many women of sport – and both combines them and takes the concept on.
Thus we have a film taking on a taboo – how women play sport/stay fit during their periods – and turning that into a platform from which Bodyform can dispense help and advice. It sounds a little simplistic, but you can see this as an example of a brand adding a service element to its product.
It makes a difference though when, as in this case, it’s done with clarity, conviction and, judging by the thoroughness of the offer, genuine commitment.