When people need to begin wearing “adult diapers,” they feel life is over. But Depend users are relatively young – average age 52 – and not ready to slow down. The thought of wearing "diapers", which they feel are for people “in nursing homes,” is mortifying. So when Depend, introduced briefs that looked and fit like real underwear, we had an opportunity to return a sense of normalcy to people with incontinence and change the brand’s image – IF we could convince people to try them to see how truly different they are.

Communications had to be category busting and compel people to pay attention. We had to re-frame Depend, the butt of late-night talk show jokes, to one our target embraced. Enter, 'The Great American Try On' which made Depend and incontinence part of a pop culture conversation and compelled people to try Depend for themselves. Working with sexy, active and continent partners we showed how undetectable the fit was, allowing people to engage in activities they loved.

'The Great American Try On' boosted trials 720%, increased sales 5.9%, generated over one billion media impressions and helped Depend earn 2.11 category share points and regain category leadership.

Lisa Rinna, an actress known for her curves, wore Depend on the red carpet. Hunky pro football players Clay Matthews, DeMarcus Ware and Wes Welker wore Depend under their uniforms on the football field.

• Create anticipation:

o Secure pre-launch New York Times marketing feature

o Late night talk show hosts discuss Depend campaign vs. poking fun when we make them realize public health benefits of normalizing incontinence. Their social media posts gain mainstream media attention.

• Maximize reach by making story 'pop culture relevant':

o Secured interviews within entertainment, lifestyle, sports media.

o Celebrities promote GATO via their social media channels.

o Supplement with controlled media: PSA, ANRs, b-roll.

• Media integrations ensure depth of messaging:

o On “The Talk”, Lisa Rinna convinced co-host to try Depend for a charitable donation.

o Athletes challenged “Jimmy Kimmel Live” co-star Guillermo to try Depend and play pick up football.

• Record sales! Depend regained category leadership. Weekly average sales increased 5.9%; category share increased 2 points.

• Most successful sampling initiative in Depend history! Sample requests increased 720% vs. new product sample requests YAG.

• Record website traffic! One million+ visits; nearly 350,000 on GATO page.

• Most successful Depend media launch ever! 1.1+ billion earned impressions including two stories on TODAY, People, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Conan, ESPN, NFL Network…and for first time, media embraced vs. poked fun at Depend.

o More Magazine’s Lesley Jane Seymour: “…marketing [will] help an underserved audience that has needed help for a long time.”

o Almost 70% of coverage included key message: “look, fit and feel of real underwear”.

o > 1/3 of coverage embedded at least one video, making earned media a key driver of video views.

o For first time ever, Depend and incontinence were trending topics on Twitter.