Selling Menopause

Client Menopause Mandate | Agency Amazon Brand Innovation Lab
Role Creative Director

The brief

Women going through menopause are expected to just carry on as if they’re not suffering from a combination of over 50 symptoms, including anger, sleepless nights, heart palpitations, anxiety, and random hot flushes throughout their day. And yet, no one really talks about it. 

So for World Menopause Day we asked, how could we use the Amazon canvas to encourage women to share their experience of menopause so others know they’re not alone? 

Leaving a bad review is proven to make you feel better*. And who has the most trusted review system in the world? Amazon.

That’s why we actually listed ‘Menopause’ on Amazon as a product you can buy and, more importantly, review with brutal honesty.

To raise awareness, we created an 80s-tastic teleshopping film and TVC, presented by TV icon Davina McCall and comedian Morgana Robinson, to tell people that they can now buy menopause on Amazon for the knockdown price of 99p (and then trash it in the reviews).

Sales translated into donations to our not-for-profit partner, Menopause Mandate, to help them campaign to revolutionise the support and advice women receive from both our health service and wider society.

As a thanks for their donation, customers get a tongue-in-cheek menopause catalogue to download for their Kindle.

* Really, by Columbia Business School

The response

My role

Developing the creative strategy, from the customer insight to the best way to use Amazon’s touchpoints.

Pitching to senior budget holders across Amazon Ads, Retail, Prime Video, Kindle and CSR teams to unlock pro bono funding and media for the project.

Leading the creative team to develop the concept, scripts, art direction and digital assets needed to activate the campaign.

Collaborating with production agency Great Guns and director MarySue Masson to throughout production to deliver film assets.

Results

45 million combined paid, earned, social and owned media OTS score in first week.

Widespread consumer media coverage, including Mail Online and MSN, plus industry coverage including features in Campaign and Little Black Book.

High-profile engagement with the campaign, including from broadcasting legends Mariella Frostrup and Carol Vorderman, plus Carolyn Harris MP (previously Shadow Minister for Women).