The Thinking
Plastic is everywhere: on remote Arctic sea ice, inside birds’ stomachs and in our most intimate feminine-hygiene products. Each year, 350 million tonnes of plastic are produced worldwide and half of it only used once. At this rate, there could be less fish in the sea by 2050 than discarded plastic, which can take thousands of years to degrade. Faced with this sobering picture, UK-based feminine-hygiene brand Lil-Lets chose to educate, inspire and encourage women to make a difference by saying no to single-use plastic found in applicator tampons. To help them kick off their mission, Lil-Lets commissioned distillery to create a branded social campaign grounded in social strategy.
The Making
We came up with a series of visual assets to turn plastic pollution into a relatable problem and help our client win fans across various social platforms.
Through social listening, we collected valuable insights on our target audience and how they engage with the plastic conversation. We identified conversation-starter keywords, such as ‘plastic bags’, and our friends at Dream Quickly used them to develop analogies that quantify the impact of applicator tampons on the environment – such as ‘the amount of plastic in applicator tampons used during one average period is the equivalent of 11 plastic bags’.
We also took into account heated debates about plastic pollution and assessed how to stay away from them. Entertainment value allowed us to stand out within existing conversations and helped us forge a relationship with our target audience through a shared sense of humour.
To maximise reach and drive engagement through to action, we delivered this social campaign over organic and paid, and split it into three interlinked phases through the conversion funnel:
1. Awareness: To raise awareness about plastic pollution in relation to applicator tampons, the information needed to be relatable and easy to digest. Our analogies translated the global problem of plastic pollution into a personal matter of consumer choice. We partnered with magician Katherine Mills to bring the numbers to life and earn the attention and curiosity of our target audience.
2. Education: Next, we wanted to inspire people to take action by switching to plastic-free tampons. We created assets that are informative and encouraging – such as a ‘how to’ guide for first-time users about how to insert non-applicator tampons by using their finger instead of a plastic applicator.
3. Action: Finally, humorous social assets were crafted to encourage consumers to try non-applicator tampons. The play on words ‘give plastic the finger’ was used as a call to action, highlighting the plastic pollution problem while also reminding users that they already have a more sustainable alternative to conventional applicators on hand (literally!)
The Blowing Up
We used shoppable assets and interactive elements throughout our social tests and learnings to regularly optimise our content and refine our targeting and retargeting strategies. In other words, we made sure we were delivering each of our assets to the right people, at the right time.
To strengthen the proposition by building a stronger and more personal relationship with our younger audience, we partnered with UK-based lifestyle influencers who fit well with Lil-Lets’ brand voice and have good engagement rates. We planned a social timeline using influencer assets to push the rest of the campaign across social channels.
The Positive Impact
The campaign’s results surpassed Lil-Lets’ expectations, as well as all our own targets. We reached every woman in our target audience, twice. Through our optimisation, we reduced the cost of media below 50 per cent of the industry average.
Here are some numbers that speak for themselves:
By keeping Lil-Lets’ values and tone of voice in mind, and carefully studying our target audience, we produced and optimised a campaign that was informative, fun and strategic. Perhaps best of all, we brought sustainable consumerism close to heart for a host of new Lil-Lets fans.
If you’d like to find out how we can make a positive impact for your brand, get in touch.