Unicharm’s SOFY BeFresh says Hello Fresh in Australia via J. Walter Thompson, Melbourne
SOFY BeFresh, an entirely new range of feminine hygiene products from Unicharm, has launched in Australia this week, via a communications campaign developed by J. Walter Thompson, Melbourne.
It is the first integrated campaign developed by J. Walter Thompson for Unicharm Australia, that has seen the agency develop the product name and pack design, as well as TV, print, POS, digital, social, website and sampling.
Says Debra Smith, senior brand manager, Unicharm: “We are incredibly excited to launch this product onto the Australian market, particularly with such a strong brand position. It is a discreet market and a tough one to crack, so we needed a memorable brand proposition that would resonate with our audience and make them aware there is a new player in the market, offering 
Australia’s first Clean Barrier Technology.”
J. Walter Thompson Melbourne general manager Nick Muncaster said the strategy and brand development had been an exciting journey for “both agency and client alike”.
Says Tim Holmes, creative director, J. Walter Thompson: “The result is a creative platform that changes the rules of periods – say goodbye to ugh and hello to feeling fresh and clean. Creatively it was wonderful to be tasked with the diversity of deliverables, drawing on all our creative capabilities to develop the brand campaign, design, packaging, web and content.”
The campaign launches across all mediums and runs over the next five months.
Creative Director: Tim Holmes
Creative: Lu Paine, Jess Jordan, Holly Burgess, Lucy Logan, Pip Lane
Group Account Director: Sue Collier
Project Management: Miryana Velyanovski
Agency producer: Christina Dess
Production company: Otto Empire
Director: Brendan Gibbons
Photographer: Julian Wolkenstein
27 Comments
Brilliant work, especially for this category. Well done.
I love this. Period.
Bloody great work!
Job well done.
Not just another shiny/’carefree’/’liberated’ sanitary product commercial. Hits the nail on the head. Clever work guys.
Don’t JWT have Kimberly Clarke as a client?
What woman would want to use Hello fresh after seeing these ads?
further the name is incredibly condescending, people know the products are at parity calling it ‘hello fresh’ doesn’t make people feel fresh.
Sorry to tell you boys but pads don’t make any woman feel any less UGH or Awful when it’s that time of the month. This misses the mark. And yes, terrible product name too.
So plus sized girl is so terribly ugly and ‘blah’ she must be hidden away from the outside world while the the thin girl (with the help of BeFresh) is allowed out to play? Setting a terrible example for young girls with body issues regardless of the fact that the ad sucks.
@Woman
“Sorry to tell you boys…”
Look at the list of creatives—all female.
I saw these while watching The Great Australian Spelling Bee on Monday night. And while I thought it was a bit strange for the media placement, “i feel like I’ve sat on a jam donut” is a disturbingly true insight into what wearing a pad is like.
I don’t work at Clems. Or know anyone who does. But I’m guessing the answer to the comments above is this. The period girl is bigger because when you’re on your period you feel like a fat bloated ugly mess. Her size and appearance is a physical metaphor for those period feels. And yeah sure, pads don’t solve this, but as shown in the ad the weird curtain removes the sensation that you’re wearing a soiled diaper around for half the day. Hence, hello fresh. It’s pretty clear. The ad is good. Haters need to stop trying to rain on this blood parade.
Creepy VO at the end though.
@qt3.14
All the more reason why this campaign should have been a lot better.
To the creative team of Holmes, Paine, Jordan, Burgess, Logan and Lane:
Try again. Please — TRY AGAIN.
I get it; you guys were trying to be funny and different. Yet while you do deserve kudos for your new take on the typical period ad, it’s quite disappointing that you chose to personify the negatives of menstruation by vilifying a bigger, frumpier, more unreasonable woman. A woman whom I, as suggested by your ad’s depiction of her, shall call the unfortunate ‘Period Monster Girl’.
And yet what happens when Period Monster Girl gets her period? Is her Period Monster even worse? Is it even fatter? Even more homely? Perhaps her hair will be even frizzier this time, and maybe she’ll have a zit or two, or even a few whiskers by her upper lip. And will she do worse than just snap at clueless pizza delivery men — does she attack them with cricket bats, mouth frothing whilst she spews misandrist profanities and cursing her lot as a reproductive female? *shudder*
Long story short, I think you guys missed the mark. What you may have forgotten is that us fat, frumpy and overemotional Period Monster Girls, well, we’re real people. And we currently exist — we’re not just uglier, bigger, louder versions of our pretty, sane selves who appear a week every month. And guess what? We get our periods, too. And personally, I would think twice before buying from a company who, rather than sympathising with and understanding my needs in a respectful, inclusive way, decided it was better off alienating and mocking me instead.
Not sure what this ad is trying to say. As a woman I find it offensive. As a creative I find it confusing. I don’t need a pad to make me feel fresh (hence slim, chirpy, well-groomed as this ad seems to equate), I simply need a pad to work. It’s not that difficult. Not sure if it was the creative team’s fault or the client’s blinkeredness, but this doesn’t change the stereotype around pad ads at all. It just tethers it to a new stereotype. This is one of those ads that I will remember for the wrong reasons – I’ll actually avoid Sofy in the future. Sticking with the white pants and happy dancing girls brands – at least they don’t tell me that being a woman is disgusting.
I’m going to be frank. I’m hugely disappointed in this ad. It is shaming women and perpetuating the idea that women are irrational rage monsters when they have they’re period.
Why did the ‘ugh’ version have to be a different size to the regular version? I understand the metaphor but why did you have to use 2 different women to show it? I think most women would understand the metaphor just the same.
Finally, a pad isn’t going to change the hormone levels that cause these issues anyway. Badly done! Badly done indeed!
This ad nearly turned me gay. Girls, ewww.
This is awful. It establishes a view where a normal looking girl is actually the ‘ugly and disgusting period’ alternative to the pretty and groomed skinny girl. I find this horrendously offensive to the many many girls in the world that would probably relate and identify with the girl in this add (and no, not the girl at the end).
Lazy, derivative, unimaginative and poorly written.
Why does so much internalised misogyny still exist within female creatives? This ad does nothing but poke fun at what is just about the most natural cis-female bodily function. Having your period is just about one of the most natural functions a cis woman can have!
To be honest, the team had a huge opportunity here but completely missed the mark and caved into the same calibre of ads we could expect from a team of smug young males. As a woman I find this ad to be just boring. Also– this ad is complete false advertising! How can a sanitary pad nullify the emotional and hormonal side effects experienced during menstruation? In the bin.
I laughed out loud when I saw this tvc (and I hate watching ads because they really are so terrible) but this one got me because quite frankly, ITS TRUE! This is exactly what I feel like every month. And lot of my friends too. So I saw this as a refreshingly insightful (and hilarious) take on periods. The PMS alter ego, we all have one. And mine looks very much like the girl in the shower! So Thank God I’m not alone, that’s what I say!
Well done to the creative team (all female I would imagine?) and to the client for getting it across the line. It’s is the first ad I have seen about ‘that time of the month’ that actually rings true for a lot of us and it’s been done with an actual sense of humour. (The PMS actress is fantastic, very, very funny.)
Some of these comments above…wow. Ladies, you really need to chill out and maybe ask yourselves, what time of the month is it?
Snickers did the same thing with “You’re not you when you’re hungry…”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbpFpjLVabA
Nobody ACTUALLY believed that they turned into Betty White or Joe Pesci when their stomach grumbled did they?
Everyone needs to take a deep breath of laughing gas and relax.
Not only is this offensive and mysogonist, it is boring and relies on sexist stereotypical condescending derivative crap. Did you forget that you are selling to women! The majority of whom are over a size 14? Not smart.
Calm the farm people. It’s how we as women feel when we have our period. And it was written by women, for women. We wanted to finally write an ad that rings true to ‘that time of the month’ so please, give us a break and have a LOL. Jeeeesus!
Just bad taste fat shaming tripe.
I had to rewind the ad to watch it again… Not because it’s good, or even funny, but because I thought it was offensive and I needed a second look at the whole ad so I could digest the message.
Interesting way of illustrating a woman on her period, animated, over the top, but “fat, ugly, depressed and angry” is how I perceive it.
Yes, women can feel like this during their period, but the portrayal of a young ‘fat ugly girl’ may have been the wrong direction to take. Think about it, you’ve highlighted what your brand considers fat and ugly. A new brand with superficial views on ‘beautiful’ – it’s not saying ‘hello fresh’, it’s saying ‘hello beautiful’.
Bad strategy. Bad ad. Bad message.
A am a creative myself and am always looking for fresh, new ideas. This creative emphasis a much more negative message highlighting body image and what is perceived and ugly vs beautiful.
A pad cannot make you look or even feel beautiful. The pad advertised seems to hold in the moisture. That’s it. It’s technical. What about the bloating? What about lethargy? What about the PAIN? Migraines? Nausea? And the sick days one needs to take almost every month? A dry pad cannot fix that.
And lastly, what about the ‘fat girls’ around the world? Are they all angry and depressed? Are all girls sized 14 and above on their period?
Creatives – don’t forget you are responsible in taking new and modern messages to the younger generation. Congratulations, you did a bad job.
This is absolutely disgusting. Absolutely disgusting. Fat-shaming and reinforcing the completely false stereotype that women on their periods are raging, unbearable, hideous monsters. Can we please stop hating on women so much? Can we STOP?
Jess Jordan and team – clearly you are not interested in what the market is trying to tell you. Your defensiveness will not help you sell products. That’s point one! Learn from your mistakes.
Point two – the ad is absolutely offensive for all the reasons already given. I will never buy the product now because of that ad. Obviously the company agreed to it. Bad decision. It also makes me wonder what the company thinks of their consumers to approve of such an offensive portrayal of women.
Loved it! It’s funny, on point and keeps you watching. Haters gonna hate but the ad did its job and now this new brand is known and recognized. Will probably sell like hot cakes.
People will always find something to who he about, especially when they sit unhappily at a blank computer screen annoyed at themselves for being hopelessly uncreative.
Well done to this creative team.
HI!
Well I am one of a lot of people that hate this ad!
I understand that you were trying to be clever or funny and I think that is cool! but unfortunately your ad can be taken as quite offensive! I personally dont like your ad because of the message it sends that If you are on your period you are a fat whinging horrible person but when your are not on your period you are lovely, thin, have a boyfriend etc
However that is my opinion and I understand that people will have different views!
I personally will never buy your product based on this ad as I will always see your product and remember the fat girl on her period.
However I would like it a lot if you could STOP PLAYING THIS ON YOUTUBE as an ad. On TV I can switch channels but youtube I am stuck waiting for your stupid ad to finish, and everytime I watch it i become more annoyed by your product!
please no more youtube ads