In India, 70% of women don’t find useable public loo when they need one. Forcing them to avoid drinking water or hold their pee in, sometimes even for 12 hours. A violation of a woman’s fundamental human right - the right to pee.

Harpic launched Loocator – a crowdsourced free app that helps women find loos nearby, rate them and add new loos - bringing alive Harpic’s philosophy of ‘better hygiene for everyone’ through an interactive mobile experience. Multiple relevant touchpoints were used to target women-on-go like digital films, radio spots, QR enabled cups at markets and women’s day activation.

In India, men pee anywhere. Walls, roads, trees – the world is their loo. But for women, finding a public loo is a nightmare. A constant pain when they step outside their homes for work, shopping, socialization, or anything else. So much so that 70% of Indian women don’t find a useable public loo when they need one.

But their nightmare doesn’t end when they find one. 70% of women experience fear and disgust at public loos. Because they are filthy, smelly, sometimes with no running water, electricity or even doors. Unfortunately for women, they have no choice but to use them.

Instead of solving the problem, as a culture, we have forced women to live with it. They hold their pee in by braving excruciating pain, in some cases for up to 12 hours at a stretch. 81% women even don’t drink water, even in the scorching summer heat. Putting their health at risk of problems like UTIs, severe dehydration, heat strokes and long-term bladder and kidney issues. Not just that, 75% of women acknowledge avoiding field jobs or extended travel due to lack of public loos, limiting their own opportunities.

Harpic, India’s No.1 toilet cleaning brand, that stands for better hygiene for everyone, had to do something about it. It believes that access to safe, clean sanitation is a fundamental human right.

So, while Harpic was helping create clean loos at home for consumers, one gap that remained a big pain-point for them, especially women, and that kept coming up in research was - the inaccessibility and the unhygienic state of loos outside. In public places. Delving deeper, we found that there was only one loo for every 20,000 people in India. In case of women, this stat was worse.

The brief was to figure out how Harpic can enable better hygiene for women where they needed it the most – outside their homes through a relevant experience.

The objective was to find an easily accessible long-term solution that helps women reclaim their fundamental right - to pee with dignity.

Harpic launched the Loocator – an app that helps women find clean loos nearby, rate these public loos and even add new loos to the network.

Built on top of Google API for functionality and familiarity, this app is created with unique, advanced features that help in loo discoverability and shareability. Ratings and review feature gives women the right to choose the best loo to use in their vicinity while adding feature helps them add new, usable loos – a feature of critical relevance for women trying to find loos in less explored places.

With the #BeFreeToPee campaign, this unspoken yet fundamental problem was brought to the forefront of Indian minds.

Women are the key target audience for Harpic which has been providing best-in-class product solutions for clean and hygiene loos to Indian women for years. It was time to go beyond a product but create a brand experience that helped women find better hygiene outside their homes.

In an integrated approach, the Loocator app was launched with #BeFreeToPee campaign using digital films and radio spots targeting women while they are commuting. QR enabled cups were distributed in the busiest markets frequented by women. Additionally, on Women’s Day, the most used public loos near city’s hotspots like metro stations, were cleaned all day long, as a surprise for women to give them a taste of the 5-star cleanliness they can find when they use the app.

We urged women to #BeFreeToPee in a four weeklong campaign that was launched with a film showing the helplessness different women feel when they can’t find a loo.

During peak traffic hours on the most popular routes, RJs pointed out public toilets asking women to take a pee break. In the busiest markets frequented by women, paper cups with QR codes leading to the Loocator app were distributed, encouraging women who avoided drinking water to sip without fear.

On Women’s Day, Harpic went a step forward by partnering with two of India’s biggest loo providers, Sulabh International and PVR Nest, and cleaned the most used public toilets - giving women the priceless experience of a clean public loo.

Many celebrities joined the conversation including Akshay Kumar, Mithali Raj, Sonali Khan to spread the word and help women locate their most fundamental human right - the right to pee.

The campaign sparked conversation with a huge 163 million + reach. Indian celebrities from all walks of life joined in including actors like Akshay Kumar, Chitranga Singh, Soha Ali Khan spoke about the criticality of such an app. Former captain and cricketing star of India Women Cricket team, Mithali Raj resonated very strongly with app as did the women activists like Sonali Khan and Rani Ko-HE-Nur who appreciated the app. This led to a whopping 84 million + of earned media and an impressive number of app downloads of 64,000+ and counting.

Appreciating Loocator for its relevance and usability, the Founder and Director of World Toilet Organization, Prof Dr. Jack Sim, expressed his intent to extend Loocator to Singapore to help simplify the lives of women there as well.

In India, men pee anywhere. Walls, roads, trees – the world is their loo. But for women, finding a public loo is a nightmare when they step outside their homes. 70% of Indian women don’t find a useable public loo when they need one. When they do, most are filthy and lack basic amenities.

Instead of solving their problem, as a culture, we force them to live with it. Women are taught at a very young age to hold their pee in. Sometimes, they hold their pee for even 12 excruciating hours. 81% women don’t drink water when they step outside leading to problems like UTIs, menstrual hygiene issues, severe dehydration, bladder & kidney issues. 75% of women acknowledge avoiding field jobs, extended travel due to lack of public loos, limiting their opportunities.

How can women not have access to their most fundamental human right – the right to pee?