Nowadays fashion seeks to spread its power over every tiny detail of our life, not just clothes and footwear. Since the time even personal electronics were announced a fashionable accessory, the modern day consumer has become hard to surprise. But what is SHE going to say about that: beginning April 4, even sanitary pads have become a fashionable accessory due to the ground-breaking campaign launched by U Kotex. The brand has signed an award-winning designer Patricia Field (known for her work as a fashion and costume designer in ‘Sex and the City,’ ‘Ugly Betty,’ and ‘The Devil Wears Prada’) to run the new contest, adage.com reports.
The contest entitled ‘Ban Against the Bland’ is aimed at changing the overall attitude to feminine care both in the consumers and manufacturers/sellers’ mind. Kimberly Clark calls to forget the ‘institutional approach’ to the sanitary pads endorsed by the most of TV ads seeing a white pad tested with blue liquid, and add more colors to the product, make it bright and radiant.
In course of the contest, Patricia Field has already designed several carrying tins for Kotex pads. All of US girls aged over 14 are welcome to suggest their own designs for pads and submit them online using a virtual pad design tool on the campaign website. Threesome of winners will get a chance to work with Patricia on more designs for U Kotex. More than that, they will attend Fashion Week in New York City in September. To learn more about the contest, please follow the link.
‘U’ by Kotex has been working on bridging the gap between fem care and fashion since 2010, when the newly released lineup of bright wrappers in stylish black boxes hit the shelves. This move triggered the considerable increase in sales for Kotex. The brand continues working in this direction as it plans to release a limited-edition series ‘themed to fit a girl’s personal style,’ entitled BoHo, Poptimistic, Freestyle and Punk Glam, as well as designer tins from Ms. Field.
Melissa Sexton, senior integrated marketing leader at K-C, commented on the campaign, «We, too, were a bit skeptical that girls would want to design pads. What we found was a massive level of interest not just around a contest to design a pad but this approach of getting these girls inspired to change the future of fem-care.»
NY-based Ogilvy & Mather agency has produced a TV spot for the campaign showing young women, disppointed with a dull ad for a bland, white sanitary pad displayed on the side of a building, taking up spray paint and brushes to defeat the bland, and create a new mural over it.