“Gender inequality, cultural taboos and poverty cause menstrual health needs to go unmet”. UNICEF

Whilst almost 2 billion people globally menstruate, periods are still treated as a hush-hush topic, and not being able to openly talk about it contributes to its taboo status.

Through the years, much has been done to demystify menstruation, from showing red blood in ads to normalising stains but, truth is, periods’ status as a secretive subject is established early, when women are teenagers.

Getting your first period will always be emotionally-charged, confusing, uncomfortable; however, it’s the realisation that information is scarce and conversations forbidden that solidifies that feeling period shame is the norm.

It’s no wonder the arrival of periods has such a strong negative impact on young girls’ education around the world, compounding gender inequality, particularly in poor countries.

For young girls entering adolescence, we wanted to break the taboo cycle before it’s established.

Even though 1.8 billion people across the world menstruate, many of these girls, women, transgender and non-binary people are unable to deal with their periods in a dignified, healthy way.

This vicious cycle begins early, as young girls around the world find entering puberty far from a fairy tale. Getting their periods for the first time, they realise access to information is limited and don’t see people talking openly about menstruation.

Many don’t even know what periods are before experiencing them - the case with 33% of teenage girls in Spain and Colombia. Schools are contributing to the problem, reducing sexual education even in developed countries (in the USA, the ‘Don’t Say Period’ bill took effect last July).

As a result, the onset of periods has a proven negative effect on young girls’ educational performance, contributing to female inequality across the world and deep-seated taboos that are hard to break.

The problem is worse across developing regions, amongst them Central America, where Bayer brand Dorival operates.

Launched in 1992, Dorival is the region’s first over-the-counter analgesic to be positioned specifically for period pain; ever since, it became the category leader, commanding 80% of share and solidly established as an ally for women dealing with their periods.

Through the years, the brand has deeply embraced brand purpose, striving to help women navigate menstruation, overcoming its taboos and limitations to reach their full potential.

From the brand’s strengthened focus on teenage girls, this work was born.

For 30 years, Dorival has championed women looking to fulfil their potential whilst overcoming society’s limiting beliefs, including period stigma. The Bayer brand is one of few Ibuprofen products marketed for menstrual pain, leading the seven markets where it operates in Central America.

Through the years, its priority audience was solidified as teenagers experiencing their first periods, a particularly vulnerable time as girls drop out of school and internalise negative perceptions around menstruation that often become lifelong taboos.

To effectively reach teenagers, Dorival embraced social media, with content related to passion points including music, makeup and gaming, and inspirational influencers showing the breadth of possibilities open to young girls.

Beyond the basics, however, the brand identified a strong gap for branded content solely focused on education, informative yet engaging. With schools reducing curriculum on intimate health, Dorival desired to step up, proving its belief that periods shouldn’t limit women.

‘Princesses on Periods’ aims to change how young girls feel about their menstruation, normalising conversations about periods to stop the cycle of shame that begins at puberty.

This is relevant because the onset of periods has a proven negative effect on teenagers’ educational performance. This is a global problem, affecting developed countries across Europe and US but, needless to say, lower-income regions have it worse.

As a result, gender inequality in places like Central America is more deep-seated than elsewhere: according to UNICEF, it’s the region with the most inequality, discrimination and violence on the planet.

With this work, Dorival wants to affect profound change: as young girls come of age, we’re hoping this will help transform the mindset of new generations.

Since time immemorial, fairy tales have had a fundamental role in our society, by telling universally appealing stories that help young people understand and navigate life’s challenges.

For little girls around the world, Princesses have long been a source of inspiration, iconic role models who teach us we can be much more than we think.

With periods still a taboo in so many parts of the world, we needed their powerful help in breaking the stigma and telling the full story of menstruation.

Introducing Princesses on Periods, a content platform that features classic princesses reimagined as modern, kick-ass young girls. In these tales, Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella are no longer stuck in castles, talking to animals whilst waiting for Prince Charming - they’re going to school, having fun with their friends, gaming and streaming, sharing makeup tips and playlists.

Living their best lives and getting their periods…Happily ever after.

As an educational platform designed to teach and engage young girls, Princesses on Periods needed to respond to their most pressing menstruation-related questions.

Naturally, strategy started with data: a global research phase combining data from multiple sources (search, social listening, category audits, audience profiling) was our first step. Whilst the focus was English and Spanish, top queries were consistent across different countries and, once categorised and optimised for similarities, generated insights into important topics:

Understanding and managing pain is the biggest demand area.

PMS and related symptoms are widely misunderstood, coming next.

‘Is my period normal’ is also relevant, stemming from limited knowledge on menstrual cycles.

Thus, Princesses on Periods was devised as an always-on content platform, activated on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook across Dorival’s markets. Launched with a Hero film and followed by six independent episodes and supporting assets, each video includes credible advice on different period-related topics.

Princesses were brought to life as animated characters, enhancing the enchanted aura of fairy tales whilst allowing the platform’s future scaling.

Choosing a specialised production partner was fundamental, as supreme animation craft was needed to credibly modernise such well-known characters.

Each character was tied to a different passion point relevant to Dorival:

Rapunzel: a confident makeup influencer.

Cinderella: a sassy gaming streamer.

Sleeping Beauty: a chilled DJ.

Our initial priority were their 45” videos, exploring widely-appealing topics with time to properly develop each princess’ personality and universe. Hero and 15” videos followed, designed to directly respond to search.

As our audience, these princesses live digitally: our ecosystem on Social Media, YouTube and website was supported by 73% of the media budget + an extra TV burst for additional launch reach. Activated at Central American schools, we’ve also transformed the content in a PDF booklet to be distributed and downloaded widely.

Launched two weeks ago, Princesses on Periods is already Dorival’s most successful campaign ever.

As of now, it’s reached 18 million views (14M organic) - the total reach media had planned for 3 months was achieved within one week. Clicks totalled 134,000 (450% above monthly average) and all media KPIs were surpassed by 300%.

Engagement, however, is where things get magical: with +110,000 interactions, the campaign generated participation 200x above Bayer’s best-in-class engagement campaign in Central America.

This provoked a dramatic increase in social media followers: Instagram, Dorival’s main channel, has seen 146% more followers, after years being stable.

Finally, the campaign generated huge spikes on organic Google searches for ‘Dorival’, with 880% uplift, and 50 PR mentions.

Unprecedented exposure for Dorival, with only three videos launched - as the campaign is rolled out in its entirety in the next few months, we’ll be able to assess its full impact.

From the outset, Princesses on Periods was devised for the long-term: this isn’t a one-off campaign, but a perennial content platform.

For launch, we covered the most sought-after topics: menstrual cycle, PMS, why we have pain, managing it, irregular periods, colours, and more. But our ambition is to develop more content, tackling topics like how to understand your emotions, what to do with stains, different period products, etc.

We’re also preparing to activate it in the real world, with merch and promotions, and are in early talks with entertainment companies to bring our Princesses to the big screen in long-form.

Finally, these Princesses have been created to travel: beyond Central America, conversations have started to deploy the idea in Mexico in the next few months. Beyond other countries, our ambition is to drive synergies with the digital ecosystems of other Bayer brands focused on women’s intimate health.