Cannes Lions

I'm Dying Inside

HOWATSON+COMPANY, Sydney / MODIBODI / 2024

Awards:

2 Shortlisted Cannes Lions
Presentation Image
Case Film
Supporting Content

Overview

Entries

Credits

Overview

Background

Background: Modibodi, Australia's leading period underwear, have enjoyed great success with older menstruators, but were struggling to connect with Gen Z (18-25s).

Brief & Objectives: Increase relevance & consideration of Modibodi amongst Gen Z.

Challenge: Engage a generation resistant to traditional advertising.

Strategy: Don’t advertise to Gen Z, build a meaningful connection on the channel they love.

Solution: ‘I’m Dying Inside’. A modern TikTok period drama. Created with the production value of TV, crafted for 9:16. Featuring a cast & crew made up of female & non-binary Gen Z talent, with original screenplays and BTS content that showcased Modibodi authentically.

Idea

Life’s a lot for young people. Heartbreak. Anxiety. Moving out. Coming out. Sex. #hustleculture. The f***ing climate crisis. Men. Then you get your period.

To introduce Modibodi periodwear to Gen Z, we created ‘I’m Dying Inside’, a new series built exclusively for their favourite platform – TikTok. 5 episodes, 4 housemates, all getting their periods at the same time.  A taboo-breaking celebration of life today for young menstruators, exploring issues like baby-gay hook-ups, endometriosis flare-ups, accidental period sex stains and more.

Created with the production value of TV, crafted for 9:16. Featuring a cast, crew and writer’s room made up female and non-binary Gen Z talent, original screenplays dripping with cultural nuance and original music for each episode.

Supported with a content ecosystem to drive views, tapping into TikTok trends and topics. This fresh approach achieved huge results, helping a new generation of menstruators fall in love with Modibodi. Slay.

Strategy

Target audience: Gen Z (18-25s)

Data Gathering: Our research showed that this generation are resistant to traditional advertising, and crave both authenticity and entertainment from brands.

Strategy: Don’t advertise to Gen Z, create a meaningful connection on the channel they love - TikTok.

Relevance to social platform: As the platform of choice for 75% of Aussie Gen Z, we used TikTok to tell richer, more diverse stories than a traditional campaign, always staying to true to our ambition of entertainment first, ad second. We crafted everything for the platform and audience - from screenplay to set design to music.

Approach: To harness the algorithm and drive views, we created an entire ecosystem of additional content that tapped into trends and topics of interest, connecting with different sub-communities whilst incorporating Modibodi as authentically as possible.

Execution

Implementation: Our campaign launched as a 6-week takeover of Modibodi’s TikTok channel. In the lead up to Episode 1, we flooded people’s feed with a hype trailer, before dropping a new episode every week. To make the algorithm work for us, we supported every episode drop with additional content that tapped into trends and topics of interest, that connected with different sub-communities and drove people to watch the show.

Timeline: The campaign ran for 6 weeks from June 2023.

Placement: The show was promoted like any other, with series trailers, cinema buys, and OOH, plus supporting comms on both TikTok and Meta that retargeted those who had watched the series and drove them to the Modibodi website.

Scale: Despite a minimal campaign spend, we reached millions of viewers organically not just in Australia (54%), but internationally in the UK (11.2%), USA (11.3%), Germany and Canada (2.6%).

Outcome

'I'm Dying Inside' achieved tremendous results:

+12 million views in just 4 weeks

+91.4% increase in brand engagement

+44% increase in website traffic

+75% increase in sales.

Brand Share of Engagement grew +91.4%

Positive Brand Sentiment grew +19%

Brand Share of Voice grew 19%

With hundreds of comments from viewers celebrating the series' diverse identity representation, authentic representation of a range of period experiences, and its open dialogue around menstruation.

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