When we were tasked to develop a campaign for Motrin pain medication, it was truly a last-ditch effort to save a dying brand. With consumers describing Motrin as the RC Cola to Tylenol’s Coke and Advil’s Pepsi, it was clear we had zero relevance. We had to make a big enough impact in market to resuscitate a declining brand, increase sales and demonstrate growth potential in a declining category.

To drive sales without any functional competitive advantage, we had to create an emotional bond with consumers strong enough to change behaviour. We had to disrupt the familiar category convention of focusing on returning people to a pain-free state. Not just because we needed to stand out, but because our target didn’t relate to traditional advertising, or see themselves reflected in the ads they saw.

Motrin treats muscle pain, headache and menstrual pain, and we saw the latter as a category entry point and opportunity to engage Canadian women aged 19 – 24 who were just starting to make their own purchases and build their own relationships with brands. Knowing “millennials are more socially minded and will seek out like-minded brands” (Mintel Canada, 2017), we had to reflect their authentic experience.

For women to believe Motrin could relieve their pain, we had to prove we understood how debilitating it really was.

Looking at what competitors were saying in the category, Traditional advertising portraying women on their period because most brands consistently gloss over what in reality is often a very painful experience. We understood the temptation to focus on the solution, but believed firmly empathy would be a more effective way to build trust. To stand out and come across as authentic, we had to mirror our target’s tone and language, especially with something as personal as menstrual pain.

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Especially given how little this audience tends to relate to traditional advertising, with “only 33% seeing themselves reflected in ads” (Mintel Canada, 2017), we understood that to resonate, we had to prove we were a brand they could identify with.

Using social media and research to get a barometer on how young women really talk about their periods, we found that when women describe their experience, they are brutally honest. It’s not optimistic, it’s dark. And absolutely hysterical.

‘Tina’s Uterus’ imagined there were employees at work within Tina’s Uterus, conjuring up new, creative ways to generate menstrual pain.

Airing on television and online, “Tina’s Uterus” portrayed employees coming up with ideas for Tina’s menstrual pain. One woman suggests a shark attacking from inside, while ‘thousand knives’ can be seen on a whiteboard. Suddenly an alarm interrupts and a Motrin light illuminates to indicate Motrin pain medication has been ingested, relief is imminent, and all pain employees must immediately evacuate Tina’s uterus.

To sustain interest, we developed shorter online videos which ran across our target’s key social platforms, all depicting various scenes of different employees carrying out hysterical torture devices, as they sadly exit Tina’s Uterus.

Throughout all creative, subtle ‘easter eggs’ rewarded our audience’s attention and playfully paid off our theme. To work hard in social, we created an inherently Instagram-friendly aesthetic almost entirely in bubble-gum pink.

We went from preparing to say goodbye to Motrin in Canada, to achieving an incredible 185% increase in sales, in a declining category. We successfully surpassed our objective of -2% share and generated an incredible +.1 pt. share growth and +5% unit growth while the rest of the category experienced -1.2% in unit declines.

“Tina’s Uterus” successfully generated an astounding 285% increase in awareness and 350% increase in positive sentiment, 7 times our objective of 50%.

Motrin went from zero relevance to being championed in social media as an authentic brand with a refreshingly real take on menstrual pain, with many women tagging friends and commenting how well the videos conveyed their real experience.

• Social Campaign

- Ad Recall: more than double objective with 15.3pts (+100%)

- Awareness: more than 8 times objective with 8.7pts (+480%)

- Purchase Intent: more than double objective with 2.8pts (+115%))

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