Kotex and Ogilvy India launch a unique relay race to normalize period conversations around India
Kimberly Clark’s Kotex, a leading menstrual hygiene brand in the world, has teamed up with Ogilvy India to change the conversation surrounding menstrual hygiene by bringing it out in the open in a striking, unmissable way.
As India witnesses a robust development and growth making it a prominent emerging market on the world stage, menstrual awareness and education still remains an area for improvement. With deep-rooted cultural shame and associated stigma, periods are not spoken about openly. Menstruation poses particular challenges to young women living in India due to high levels of menstrual stigma, thus resulting in reduced quality of life for young girls and a constant hindrance in their progress.
At India’s longest-running rural Olympics, The Kila Raipur Sports Festival 2023, Kotex organized a relay race where instead of the usual baton, young women athletes passed an open sanitary pad, creating a disruptive conversation around periods.
To drive views to this unique event, an integrated approach was utilized with the race and the winning ceremony documented on video. The video featured inspiring moments from the race, bytes from the participants & organizers, and reactions from the audience.
As a brand that believes in ensuring that a period never gets in the way of any woman’s progress, Kotex globally supports the destigmatizing of periods and products, and this is a key step in building a world where women can progress on their terms. Bringing products seen as taboo to the forefront of an event that celebrates female athletes aligns with Kotex’s ongoing endeavor to challenge negative perceptions and celebrate female success.
Saakshi Verma Menon, Marketing Director, Kimberly – Clark India, said: “As a pioneer in feminine hygiene globally, Kotex believes that a period should never come in the way of any women’s progress. In a country like India, where there is no dearth of talent and grit within our women, the taboo and stigma within society around periods is what hold’s us back from championing their progress! It is about time that we normalize periods and support our women in breaking the glass ceiling. At Kotex, we don’t just make pads, we actively identify problems women face when it comes to periods and tackle them with revolutionary solutions. Our disruptive new launch of Kotex ProHealth+ Sanitary Pads will end the old cycle of choosing between singular benefits and give young girls a chance to elevate to Healthy Period Protection. Because we truly believe – Period Or Not, She Can!”
Kainaz Karmakar and Harshad Rajadhyaksha, Chief Creative Officers Ogilvy India, said: “Even in 2023, periods are still not spoken about openly. But today the young girls of India are braver, freer, and ready for change. Partnering with brand Kotex that has always stood for change, healthy period protection and women’s progress, we held #PeriodOfChange – the world’s first relay race where young girls passed a sanitary pad to each other, instead of a baton. They did this in front of a stadium full of people at India’s longest running sports fest – the Kila Raipur Sports Festival. With Kotex #PeriodOfChange we hope to inspire more and more people to bring periods out from behind closed doors and turn this into an open conversation.”
Kila Raipur spokesperson, Colonel Surinder Singh Grewal (Retd.), said: “At Kila Raipur Games, our goal has always been to provide equal opportunities to women and girls – whether it’s by encouraging participation or through equal distribution of prize money. When Kotex approached us with the #PeriodOfChange activity, we felt strongly about the message being communicated through the relay race. Period hygiene is the need of the day, but awareness of new ways of period care, even more essential. We are hopeful that this change that originated from Kila Raipur, not only impacts all women and girls in our village, but also across the globe.”
By bringing menstrual hygiene out in the open, Kotex #PeriodOfChange turned each young girl into a bearer of change and each creator into a catalyst of that change by championing the athletes and the cause. Because nothing should come in the way of a menstruator’s progress.
In its efforts to provide innovative period products, Kotex India recently launched Kotex Overnight Period Panties, and the ProHealth+ range of pads across general and modern trade in India, and e-commerce channels like Amazon and Nykaa. Kotex ProHealth+ is created to change the period game offering multiple features like anti-leakage, anti-wetness, anti-rashes, anti-itchiness, and anti-odour in a sanitary pad. It also has a quick dry core, 5-layer absorption with a wide back, super soft protection wings and sides, and green tea fragrance. The product has tested well with consumers with 98% of girls recommending the product for healthy protection during periods*.
Kotex ProHealth+ is now available in 100+ cities across general and modern trade and on leading e-commerce platforms.
Visit kotex.co.in to learn more about how Kotex is doing its bit to ensure that periods do not get in the way of any menstruator’s progress.
* Based on the study conducted by NielsenIQ India in Mar 2022 among 227 Females in the age group of 14-49 years. Tested in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore.
Credits
Client: Kimberly-Clark
Brand Team: Saakshi Verma Menon, Gayatri Kannan, Nivedita Saily, Akanksha Sagar
Creative agency: Ogilvy India
Vice Chairperson & Chief Client Officer, India: Hephzibah Pathak
Chief Creative Officers, India: Kainaz Karmakar, Harshad Rajadhyaksha, Sukesh Nayak
Creative team: Tanuja Bhat, Siddhesh Telang, Kinni Mehta Gupta, Rohit Kasar, Mayuri Patil
Account Management: Beenu Kurup, Sunny Dsouza, Ahana Banerjee
Strategic Planning: Prem Narayan, Abigail Dias
Activation & Branded Content: Krishnakant Mishra, Kishor Manjrekar
Content Production: Untitled Production
On-ground partner: Globus Events, Delhi
