In the US, Degree for Men & Women is the #3 deodorant brand. In recognition that movement matters for both physical ?and mental health the brand's purpose is "to inspire confidence in everyone to move more”. But what does the word ?“everyone” really mean? “Everyone” should mean every single one, including the 26%? of adults in the US that have some type of disability.

And though Degree has supported diversity and inclusion initiatives for many years, people with upper limb or visual impairments could not easily use its product: twisting off a cap, pressing a pump, or applying deodorant was almost impossible without help.

The campaign's objective was to better understand the complexity of this tension so we could work on a solution that eliminated the existing gap between the disabled and the rest of the community.

While researching we learned that the fear of sweating and body odor holds people with disabilities back from exercising, going out, or doing what they want to do. And a lack of accessible products perpetuates the perception that people with disabilities are dependent on others, and creates a divide between those who are non-disabled and those who are disabled.

We believe in order to enjoy the benefits of movement in daily life, everyone should be able to take care of their hygiene needs self-sufficiently. Something that also becomes more difficult as we lose dexterity, mobility or when our vision get worse as we get older. But when we realized our products represented a barrier to this, ?we decided it was time to align the design of our products to our brand values.?

In order ?to co-build we gathered a team of product designers, engineers, occupational therapists, psychologists, and disabled consultants who began to contemplate the idea of an inclusive deodorant and what it would look like. We then ran exploration sessions with the disabled community, both with vision impairment and upper limb differences, and identified the main issues with deodorant packaging: grasping, opening, closing, application motions, and tactile perceptibility.

To optimize the design and product formulation, Degree organized a set of co-creation panels in the US and UK to give people with disabilities the chance to try the new design and give their feedback on its concept, product features, and messaging. They helped improve all product and marketing mix elements for its full consumer launch.

With their contribution, we were able to bring the idea to life: Degree Inclusive, the world’s first adaptive deodorant. With a radical new design and features including a magnetic cap, hook, and large bottom grip. Although this campaign features only the beta test, ?the inclusive product is now in development for broad scale production and distribution.?

The beta product launch was supported by 2 hero films telling the story of Nick, a barber with no hands who is also a boxer and Maria, who is blind yet skates beautifully. Their stories were told on social media and amplified by the disabled community, who responded with messages of hope and celebration: "I have a disability in my hands and wrists and when I saw this design, I screamed with joy!", "This is amazing; I've been trying to get something like this designed for years."

The most basic result was the actual creation of the inclusive product prototype, a radically different design which met its objective of being able to be used independently by people with disabilities.?

In terms of generating mass awareness, the campaign exceeded 2.5 billion earned media impressions and 72K organic impressions in its first week, hitting major news media including Good Morning America, Wall Street Journal, ABC News, Forbes, Fast Company, Elle, Allure and Glamour, whose headline “Degree just made history by announcing the world’s first adaptive deodorant” summed up the impact it had.

But most importantly, thanks to Degree Inclusive, the work to make more personal care products accessible and inclusive, has now begun in both Haircare and Skincare categories too. P&G announced the launch of an inclusive pack for Olay in November 2021, and Unilever is now actively developing inclusive designs for 3 of their biggest beauty and personal care brands. Search results for “inclusive packaging” now number 56m, compared to 39m a year before, showing that Degree started an industry debate and a movement to design more inclusively.