This is what happens when whores and pimps become marketers
Brand: Bodyform/Libresse (Essity) Agency: AMV BBDO
The campaign came up against a number of obstacles, not least ad regulations and stigmas that repudiated the use of "indecent" imagery.
AMV BBDO’s campaign for Bodyform/Libresse was designed specifically to provoke, and so it was always going to attract the ire of social media trolls.
“This is what happens when whores and pimps become marketers” was just one of the many vitriolic reactions to the work on Twitter. But while the haters were out in force, their clamour was drowned out by those lauding the work.
Since launching its "Live Fearless" platform, Bodyform felt that the femcare market's use of confidence in marketing had become cliched and commoditised. It was also trailing behind Always and Tampax, both of which outspent it in terms of advertising. So in 2016, it rejected the arguably prudish convention of symbolising menstrual blood in ads using blue liquid, instead showing red blood.
#Bloodnormal kicked off with a film showing women bleeding in sports. Other executions used striking imagery, such as a sanitary towel with "blood" being pipetted onto it, or a pair of pale knickers with stylised blood around the crotch.
Influencers were recruited, including poet Dominique Christina, and commissioned to embed the message into their art.
But many media owners came round once educated about the consequences for society’s failure to be open about menstruation. "#Bloodnormal delivered the brand's biggest cut-through in its history, impacting not just sales but cultural norms and taboos."
The campaign triggered a multiplicity of social discussion, while many media outlets jumped onboard, with columnists writing about society's prudishness around menstruation, for instance.
The campaign — on a minimum budget — stole social share of voice from Always (from 37% to 90% within a month), even spreading to countries where the brand is not active, while perceptions of the brand experienced marked improvement and sales grew significantly.