An Edge to Household Paper

Toilet paper and purpose may seem worlds apart—but for Essity, finding meaning in the mundane led to a powerful, high-impact campaign. Through immersive workshops, cultural listening, and a bold co-creation process, Innate Motion helped identify a battle worth fighting: gender equality in family hygiene.

Toilet paper and purpose may seem miles apart—but societal relevance starts with everyday habits.

87% of parents want their children to grow up in more equal households, yet women still do 69% of home care.

The campaign achieved a 48.9% increase in ad recall—outperforming all previous global brand campaigns.

Call for Change

The brand reached out to us looking for new ways to position their business, giving them an edge against competitors and connecting with the next generation of families. The desire was to move beyond product and into societal relevance and benefits.

We dived into the reality of the market and discovered the potential causes the brand could act on behalf of; battles worth fighting that would be relevant to their consumers and the company's product.

Fierce Empathy

In workshops carried out with over 30 consumers in Hungary, Russia, and France, we identified potential social causes coherent to the brand. However, the Essity team was still not 100% convinced that we were on the right path.

We decided to change the dynamics of the workshop groups and spice things up. We brought in activists, creative agencies, and media partners to share their thoughts and feelings. Eventually, these groups confirmed that gender equality in family hygiene was, in fact, the battle that Essity had to take on.

We discovered that while 87% of parents found it essential that their children grow up in more equal families where all share home hygiene tasks, 69% of all home care tasks are still performed by women and 31% by men. Bringing in the activists gave us and the company proof that we were onto something significant.

Regenerative Impact

Twenty months after our initial contact with Essity, the campaign to fight gender stereotypes launched, reaching very high engagement rates. In the three months following the launch, the Zewa brand received over 42k unique visits to the company's website, over 1.5M+ views of the video ad, and 10k+ shares of the campaign on Facebook. The campaign went viral, resulting in a 48.9% increase in ad recall, outperforming any global brand campaign.

In addition to all of the positive impacts to the brand, the campaign won International AIM Brands Nudging for Good Awards 2019, under the Coup de Coeur category, evidencing the importance of gender inequality, highlighted in the campaign

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5gPAPIiUHc

“This campaign proved that even in the most everyday categories, purpose can drive real cultural relevance, consumer engagement, and business impact.”