Kotex Philippines

The Objective

Kotex, one of the leading feminine care brands worldwide trusted by millions of women, was looking to build further awareness for its brand through the launch of their new product, Kotex Freedom, in the Philippines. As a brand that is known for championing women’s progress and challenging period stigma, Kotex wants girls to rethink the current pads they are using and choose a pad with better protection at a better value. After all, the brand's new pads – Kotex Freedom – represent a breakthrough in technology, offering 5-in-1 protection from the most common problems women face with periods. Plus, the pad is tiny, but manages to absorb just as much as larger and thicker pads.

The Solution

Kotex decided that a Branded Hashtag Challenge would be a great way to drive awareness and engagement around the brand, while educating women about the benefits of Kotex Freedom. So, with this, Kotex launched the #FreedomFromTheBox Hashtag Challenge, which invited participants to show off just how they would break free from period problems. And of course, in true Hashtag Challenge fashion, this included a song and dance. Participants could show off their bold and fierce moves, or simply improvise. The more creative the better. Plus, the participating video had to be tagged with a comment about what excites them the most about new Kotex Freedom.

To take it up a notch, the brand launched the campaign with a Branded Effect. In the spirit of the campaign’s #FreedomFromTheBox message, users were trapped within a box effect. The box signified all the pain points and issues women face on their periods. And on cue, they’re able to break out of this box to be free from all these problems, and to show off what they're made of to empower others. Although the dance could be improvised, Kotex sought the collaboration of popular TikTok creators. In this way, Kotex seeded the challenge and showed users how to participate while driving initial awareness among the creators' legions of followers.

To round out the campaign, Kotex decided to promote the challenge in multiple paid formats across TikTok. This included running TopView and Brand Premium In-Feed Ads. In addition, the #FreedomFromTheBox campaign was featured as a prominent placement within the Discover page, including a feature banner dedicated to Kotex’s Hashtag Challenge.

The Results

#FreedomFromTheBox was an instant hit. Not only was the music catchy, but it was evident that the message resonated with users, who showed solidarity with breaking free of sanitary pad stereotypes. In total, the campaign reached 15.3 million unique TikTok users in the Philippines and drove 14.4 million unique video views. The campaign also saw a total of 140,000 videos created in just one week. Additionally, Kotex ran a Brand Lift Study (BLS) research and found that as a result of the campaign, more users were exposed to Kotex and remembered the brand well, with a 2.9% lift in ad recall and 3.0% increase in awareness.

Overall, #FreedomFromTheBox Hashtag Challenge was undoubtedly a great way to not just promote a message, but also drive awareness for Kotex's new and innovative line of sanitary pads.