TOUCH THE PICKLE

Short List
TitleTOUCH THE PICKLE
BrandP&G INDIA
Product / ServiceWHISPER
CategoryI01. Integrated Multi-Platform Campaign
EntrantBBDO INDIA Mumbai, INDIA
Entrant Company BBDO INDIA Mumbai, INDIA
Advertising Agency BBDO INDIA Mumbai, INDIA
Production Company RED ICE FILMS Mumbai, INDIA

Credits

Name Company Position
Josy Paul BBDO India Chief Creative Officer
Rajdeepak Das BBDO India Executive Creative Director
Hemant Shringy BBDO India Senior Creative Director - Copy
Sandeep Sawant BBDO India Senior Creative Director and Head of Art
Balakrishna Gajelli BBDO India Creative Director - Art
Ajai Jhala BBDO India Chief Executive Officer
Rajat Mendhi BBDO India Vice President - Planning
Sidheshwar Sharma BBDO India Vice President - Account Management
Rahul Chandwani BBDO India Account Director
Naina-Dimple Shetty BBDO India Planner
Hitesh Shah BBDO India Studio Manager
Vivek Unnikrishnan BBDO India Copywriter
Malvika Srivastava BBDO India Art Director
Phiroze Marolia BBDO India Senior Account Executive
Venkatesh-Shankar BBDO India Graphic Artist
Rajeev-Sameet BBDO India Graphic Artist
Shimit Amin RED ICE Films Film Director
Gary Grewal RED ICE Films Film Producer
Karan Sharma RED ICE Films Associate Producer
Hanif RED ICE Films Music Artist

Creative Execution

We needed to reach out to young-urban-women and spark a national-conversation about period-taboos. On Whisper’s social media platforms, the brand posted inspiring stories of women breaking period-taboos. Whisper released a web-film with a call to action that inspired young women to join the movement. The brand held contests like #TouchThePickleChallenge, #TouchThePickleSelfie that inspired women to send us their stories and pictures of themselves holding a pickle jar and a Whisper pack as their way of protesting against period taboos. Whisper used user-generated content and released a digital video titled ‘Bomb-Squad’ that busted the taboo around openly buying sanitary-napkins.

The campaign got the attention of and engaged with young urban women: • Achieved 73% unaided recall. • Generated free-media worth USD 6.1 million. • Over 2.9 million women participated and pledged to ‘Touch the Pickle’. • Over 1.9 million views on YouTube for the ‘Touch the Pickle’ video. • Facebook engagement rate was 959 Index. • Whisper’s Share of Voice grew to 91.2%.

Whisper is a leading sanitary napkin brand in India that believes women can be unstoppable even on their period days. However, it was losing relevance amongst young urban women. Our task was to drive relevance by reasserting a new “contemporary conversation” about periods with young urban women, in a socially-interesting, fame-generating way. Research pointed us to deep rooted period taboos still alive in the 21st century that feed a culture of shame leading to young women growing up with a disgraceful sense of self. Taboos like not touching pickles, a daily Indian meal condiment, for fear they would rot with their touch. ‘Touch the Pickle’ was a social movement by Whisper that bravely took on this culture of shame. Supported with strategically developed endorsements, activations, partnerships and collaborative work with consumers, the brand created a national conversation that inspired young women to speak up and challenge period taboos.

Links

Social Media URL   |   Viral Video URL