What Women Want

Kotex's breakthrough TV ads are part of a campaign that was launched at the beginning of the year. When O&M created the campaign, its goal was to break away from the tired cliches used to sell most feminine hygiene products. You know, "a woman on a horse, wearing white pants," summarizes Kim Isele, a senior partner at O&M. The agency spent nine months polling women about their attitudes toward feminine hygiene products and found that they weren't offended by direct language. In fact, younger consumers -- the demographic that Kotex wanted to reach -- talked that way among themselves.

Vivian Rowden, a managing partner at O&M and the lead on the Dove account, praises Dove's willingness to try something different. Thanks to the success of the Dove deodorant campaign in the United States, the brand is pursuing unconventional promotional ideas for new product launches overseas as well. Rowden says the key to getting consumers to accept the Dove ad was not to force them to take it too seriously.