The Brief

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. Research pointed us to the force stopping young women – it wasn’t periods, but the culture of shame propagated by archaic period taboos. Whisper decided to challenge this culture of shame with the ‘Touch the Pickle’ movement. It started with a TV-ad that asked women to come forth and break period taboos by touching the pickle. This immediately provoked interest. Along with this, strategically developed branded-content, celebrity endorsements, activations and partnerships generate huge consumer response. Over 2.9 million women participated and pledged to ‘Touch the Pickle’.

Creative Execution

We needed to reach out to young urban women and spark a national conversation about period taboos. Here each element was designed to provoke the attention of our audience. So we started with a TV spot that asked young women to boldly break period taboos by touching the pickle. This provocative message got the nation’s attention. Bollywood celebrities and real-life women-achievers stepped forward to spread the message. CNN-IBN, a leading news channel hosted a show called #LetsTalkPeriod. Radio-Jockeys across major cities conducted live debates. Aditi Gupta, founder Menstrupedia, took it to the TED-Talks stage. Comedians and women from different walks of life created compelling content to inspire young women to come forth and break taboos. Over 2.9 million women participated and pledged to ‘Touch the Pickle’.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

Young urban women in the age group of 16 to 24, our target audience for Whisper are confidently stepping forward in everyday life, but for most women, period taboos are a monthly reminder that feed a culture of shame that hold them back. Whisper as a brand stands for the emancipation of women. By challenging the culture of shame propagated through period taboos; Whisper found a deeper relevance and positively impacted young women by making them truly unstoppable. This campaign helped the brand find a deeper relevance in the lives of their target audience and drove value share levels.

Results

The campaign got the attention of and engaged with young urban women: • The campaign achieved 73% unaided recall. • It 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 from 21.0% TO 91.2%.