The solution wasn’t advertising. It was education.

Not just to girls. But to mothers.

The shocking discovery we made - 70% of mothers think period blood is impure5, perpetuating a culture of shame & ignorance.

Asking their menstruating daughters to not go to school, not eat or drink with the family, not bathe, not touch drinking water or cooking utensils. 88% of menstruating women make-do with old rags, sand, ash, wood shavings, newspapers, or hay.

Talking functional superiority of pads isn’t relevant and won’t build the category given mothers had grown-up believing menstruation is shameful, deserving only of waste material like rags et all.

To fix the business challenge of low penetration of category, Whisper would have to first institute social change.

Objective 1: Educate 5 million moms & girls about period education (through school program)

Objective 2: Make social impact deliver business impact. Increase rural penetration by +5%

We went beyond advertising to teach period science to mothers for the first time in India.

Our idea was to design, disseminate period science for moms, at scale.

Sparked the conversation with a film, where two girls make a science project to teach their friend’s mother about periods.

We explained the functions of the uterus, ovaries, and fallopian tubes, showing how the egg travels and why women bleed.

Mothers learned that by using sanitary pads, their daughters could continue school.

The lesson was kept simple, so even moms with no education (low literacy) could understand it.

To get cultural acceptance, we got India’s most loved soap opera mom Rupali Ganguly to teach mothers about period science.

For on-ground impact, we taught period science in schools to girls and their mothers.

Additionally, we went to a safe space like ladies’ parlours where women discuss personal care matters.

Our strategy was unconventional as it targeted the moms to impact the their daughters.

This was the missing link in our thinking because of which despite decades of providing period education to girls, we were still not being able to make prevent girls from dropping out of school at scale.

We realised to reach the girls, we needed to teach moms.

Strategic Idea: Teaching mothers the science of period, so that their daughters can continue school.

Instead of passing down myths and superstitions, educated mothers would finally pass down informed information, helping their daughters manage periods better.

1. Sparked the conversation with a film: Where two girls make a science project to teach their friend’s mother about periods. We explained the functions of the uterus, ovaries, and fallopian tubes and why women bleed.

2. Social amplification: Collaborated with 8 KOLs including Rupali Ganguly one of the most inspiring characters for mothers, Soha Ali Khan and Neena Gupta. The KOLs were chosen as they themselves are mothers.

3. News channel prime time debate: CNBC TV18 and CNN News 18 covered key aspects of the issue for Indian citizens at large to take notice.

4. School program: In these sessions girls and mothers are taught menstruation and how to manage one's period using pads

5. Parlour program: First of its kind for Whisper. Through P&G networks, we provided special training, tools to the staff, we transformed parlours into a safe space for learning about periods.

A. TRANSFORMED CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

Educated 8.4 million moms & girls about period education and importance of pads to navigate periods.

B. IMPACTED CULTURE AND EDUCATION SYSTEM

- Delivered India’s first ever teaching-learning modules on period science launched in partnership with UNESCO, which in turn delivered 10MM+ media impressions, and government advocacy opportunities.

- Government data shows an additional 1 million girls in primary and secondary schools in 2022.

3. TRANSFORMED BUSINESS

- Achieved +15% rural penetration (May’22-Apr’23 vs Year Ago).

We overachieved our target by 200%

- 6.7 million packs sold in just over a month of the campaign 235% more than target.

4. IMPACTFUL COMMS.

- 26 million views of our digital film. +3 million more views than previous campaign, 30% more than target.

- 12% engagement rate, 200% more than category benchmark. KOL partnership delivered total 2.5Bn earned media impressions.12.5X media impressions vs year ago