Always #likeagirl Campaign

Is your category declining due to evolving consumer preferences? Is your brand starting to be viewed as “mom’s brand”? We can relate.

The problem: For the world’s largest Feminine Care brand, Always, we faced two critical business challenges. First, the category was declining globally, as an increase in birth control usage caused consumption deceleration (women now had more moderate, consistent flow levels). Second, U By Kotex had entered the US market with a 100% digital plan, taking over Point of Market Entry (POME) share leadership from Always. Our brand was in decline and U By Kotex users increasingly stated that Always is “mom’s brand”, posing long term risk that U By Kotex would be the brand teens choose when they have their first period.

To address both challenges head on, we asked ourselves, how might we turnaround our POME share and equity performance, to transform and modernize the brand, even in a declining category?

The solution: Enter #likeagirl Campaign. To build this Campaign, we started with our boss, the consumer. We went on a human insights journey, working w/ OB/GYNs, Pediatricians, and Teens, to deeply understand the first period journey and what it looks like emotionally and functionally. Our top insight was shocking and disturbing, filled with tension. We discovered in physician research that confidence plummets at puberty and never fully recovers for girls. Making matters worse, the drop in confidence for girls is 2X higher than it is for boys. We wanted to change this, so we built the global #likeagirl Campaign. Our big idea was to transform the meaning of the phrase “like a girl” into a strength, rather than an insult, so we could show girls how only Always gives girls confidence to get through even their toughest of days.

The value: We restored our #1 POME share position, grew sales +5% in a declining category, and saw significant increases in our equity scores (such as “this brand gives me confidence”) across all top markets. We became the first feminine care brand ever to advertise in the Super Bowl. We won 100+ ad awards including a Cannes Grand Prix. The Campaign became the most watched Online Video campaign in P&G history, with over 100 million views.

We were so successful in market, we decided to extend the campaign into our POME school toolkits for 5th & 7th grades, extending our message worldwide, in a more relevant, hyper-local way. The stories we got back from consumers, particularly in developing markets, were amazing. Our increase in school toolkit distribution was helping girls stay in school. Girls finally had the right education and products to use, which helped them more effectively manage their first period experience. They no longer had to stay at home (and miss school) to manage their period with inferior solutions (like papers or towels or cloth). In several cases, we learned that graduation rates were improving in these markets, clearly showing how the campaign and its worldwide impact was touching & improving consumer’s lives on a worldwide basis.

For more details, check out campaign spots (1, 2, 3) and industry whitepapers (1, 2)