Essity is a leading global health and hygiene company, which develops and sells products and solutions in personal care, consumer tissue and professional hygiene. The company is focused on making a difference and caring for people every day.
At the beginning of 2022, Essity identified menopause as a potential new category in retail where there is a significant opportunity to develop new products, new brands, and innovate under existing brands in response to the growing need for products that provide relief for symptoms of menopause amid an ageing population.
Subsequently, menopause was regarded as a “must win” area within consumer goods for Essity internationally.
The 72Point team was tasked to develop and deliver a campaign that could position Essity as the thought-leader on menopause, drive awareness of the corporate brand and our purpose of breaking barriers to well-being, and create a platform to introduce our newly launched menopause brand – Issviva. Essity had already worked with 72Point for over a year by the time this brief came through, and we had consistently delivered across multiple campaigns.
Our ambition was to generate significant media coverage and develop engaging social media content focused firmly on the importance of breaking the taboo and having open conversations about menopause.
The UK’s biggest ever menopause study
The idea was to create a two-phase campaign. The first phase was to commission the UK’s biggest ever study on the subject of menopause. We believed being the company behind the biggest ever study would give us instant credibility with media, retailers and healthcare professionals because we would be able to provide genuinely useful new insights and demonstrate our leadership in this area.
The second phase of the campaign was the development of the Changing Wombs YouTube series.
Linda Barker was identified as the perfect choice for Changing Wombs given her former role as a presenter on Changing Rooms and her known advocacy for speaking out about the menopause.
Alongside Linda we brought in her daughter Jessica who is yet to experience menopausal symptoms. In doing this, we believed we would create a natural, comfortable chemistry between the two on screen while also perfectly reflecting the research findings between those that have experienced menopause and those that haven’t. In addition, we felt this would also create a call-to-action for more parents to speak with their daughters about menopause at the appropriate time.
In Latin America, the second phase of the campaign translated into a media event and roundtable discussion with external healthcare professionals to discuss the findings of the study and the implications on health services within Latin America.
125 pieces of coverage ✳︎
Essity’s highest media coverage to date
Ahead of the launch of the Changing Wombs series we prioritised achieving long-lead lifestyle publications and broadcast media coverage and therefore shared the series upfront to key target media.
We were able to secure several interviews for Linda with long-lead titles and a slot for Linda and Jessica on ITV Lorraine which became the launch point for the series. On the day of their appearance on Lorraine, we issued a press release to news desks, health and lifestyle media, and celebrity titles announcing Linda and Jessica as the co-hosts of our new YouTube series, citing key insights from the research, and detailing their objective to encourage more conversations about menopause. We published the three episodes on Essity’s YouTube channel the same morning with paid support targeting the key demographic.
After the series launched, we utilised our agreed time with Linda to book additional media interviews including with the Press Association which resulted in an article being syndicated nationally.
The campaign secured over 300 pieces of coverage across national, print, lifestyle, broadcast and social media.
125
Pieces of coverage
7.85M
Combined reach to date
2
Award nominations
“No matter the brief, 72Point always find a way to create a strong news angle that ultimately delivers impactful media coverage.”
Gareth Lucy, Communications Director, Essity.
A two-part campaign
The second part of the campaign landed with a bang – launching on ITV’s Lorraine and The Daily Mail, Mail Online. Changing Wombs story had huge appeal across a wide range of media outlets securing coverage in titles such as The Sunday Times, Woman&Home, Fabulous, Closer, Bella, Best, Metro, BBC radio, alongside all national digital outlets.