We partnered up with female athletes to bring stigmas surrounding periods to light and into court with a one-of-a-kind sponsorship. By broadcasting it on national TV, we tackled a subject that otherwise is restricted to private talks (important to acknowledge that secrecy is a big part of the problem).

PR generated from featuring not only a menstrual care brand, but a menstrual pad itself on court started a chain of conversations that fueled a pressing debate: how these stigmas hold women back and steal from them fundamental activities for their health and well-being like playing sports if they choose to.

Period shame is a multifaceted shame. Society historically considers periods disgusting and unsanitary, which ends up making girls and women dreading the idea that someone notices when they are menstruating.

On top of that, Brazil is a very sexist country and even Gen Z girls (who are proven by research to be more open to talk about menstrual health) suffer daily with prejudices and stigmas about the most natural things about their bodies. Research conducted in 2021 by UNICEF and U-Report Brasil revealed 62% of Brazilian girls aged between 13 and 24 already skipped school and 73% felt embarrassed in a public space just for being on their periods.

It’s not rare to see teachers, parents and other caregivers advising girls to sit out of activities just because they’re on their periods, despite feeling well or having access to proper menstrual hygiene.

Intimus (Kimberly-Clark menstrual hygiene brand called Kotex elsewhere) believes that, period or not, women can do whatever they want.

A study by Puma discovered that 1 in 2 girls quit sports upon their first period. The main reason isn't pain, it's shame. They fear someone could notice they're menstruating, and they dread the idea of leakages.

To help young girls to overcome shame with pride, Intimus created a unique and official sponsorship for professional athletes to inspire a new generation to keep on playing sports.

The goal was to embody Intimus' purpose of supporting women's progress against menstrual stigmas (brand signature is “Period or not, she can”). We aimed to enhance brand identification and reach, fostering emotional connections with our target. We pursued buzz, facilitated open discussions about periods, and built emotional ties with our audience. Fortunately, our results demonstrate success in achieving these objectives.

We pioneered the first sponsorship only for professional athletes competing during their periods to challenge the shame that makes girls quit sports when they start menstruating.

We stamped a menstrual pad around our sponsored athletes’ names on their jerseys not only to symbolize they were playing while menstruating, but also proudly doing so.

Our key-message was simple: "If you feel well during your period, without pain, don't let shame take over: proudly play".

The sponsorship changes every game, according to the athletes’ cycles. Thus, we reinforce the brand signature (Period or not, she can) and how true the idea is, and also generate more buzz around it every week, turning our sponsorship into a virtuous cycle of brand message amplification.

Until now, we're proudly and officially sponsoring periods in volleyball, soccer, artistic gymnastics, judo, basketball, and skateboarding. Our athletes/influencers team keeps the conversation going all over social media and TV.

Our audience was people entering their menstrual cycles, so we began with a deep data analysis to uncover how these girls engage with sports.

Identifying the most relevant sports for them and cross-referencing data on interest and social media content led us to select the right athletes.

Our key-message was simple and rooted on the brand’s signature (Period or not, she can): if you are feeling well, without pain, always enter the court.

Instead of girls talking to girls in private about periods and how society turns them against women, we made a statement on national TV: this is everybody’s problem. After all, the reason girls feel embarrassed to be on their periods isn’t other girls.

Marking only a few jerseys was strategic: to spark even more conversations, we decided to appear "less".

The sponsorship was complemented by posts on social media and live broadcasts on TV and sports shows.

We launched this one-of-a-kind sponsorship during a match broadcasted live on TV without any explanation intentionally, prompting people to turn to X (Twitter) for answers. First buzz achieved.

With sports commentators explaining what was going on with the jersey marked with a pad, a wave of outrage took over social media, turning the idea into a hot topic within minutes. Fortunately, to every hater, there was a hoard of people

saying the brand nailed it and that shame was replaced by pride.

Naturally, we became news on TV sports shows and news while we dug deeper into the topic on social media, with Olympic athletes and champions amplifying our message.

Next, we expanded the idea to officially sponsor other professional athletes and other sports to keep the conversation going.

This strategy made The Shameless Pad become the most shared campaign of the brand's history, with more than 400M impressions.

426 MILLION IMPRESSIONS

BRAND MOST ASSOCIATED WITH COMBATING PERIOD STIGMA

FAVORITE MENSTRUAL HYGIENE BRAND AMONG GEN Z

INTIMUS' MOST SHARED SOCIAL CAMPAIGN. EVER.

+19% IN SALES

We made a great impact on our sponsored volleyball team junior athletes too: the absence in practice due to period shame dropped drastically.

The idea spontaneously became a teaching tool for physical education teachers around the country. Hundreds of parents shared their kids' struggles with sports and periods with the brand and used the idea to talk to their children.

We reached 338 thousand homes only with the product placement on the first volleyball game broadcasted with our sponsorship - and the reach went up to 35 million impacts with influencer content. Interactions around the topic accounted for 63% of all monthly brand mentions, including spontaneous endorsements from health and education professionals.

Sources: Media/Social Report KC and Kantar Insights, 2023 / Nielsen Retail Feb'24