SCA Personal Care is taking a light-hearted approach to bladder-control problems in its new North American campaign for Tena Serenity incontinence products.
The campaign, created by Toronto agency ACLC, includes TV, print and radio advertisements. Both television spots depict middle-aged women in the midst of a bladder-related crisis. In one ad, a woman desperately rushes home through traffic to get home and use the washroom, only to have difficulty finding her keys. Stranded outside the house, the woman looks up to see a bathroom stall fall magically from the sky. As the stall hits the ground, a voiceover says, “Like that’s ever going to happen.”
The other spot shows a woman stuck in traffic with her husband, 70 miles from the nearest restroom, when the bathroom stall lands beside her car. Both ads are set to the Motown song, “Rescue Me” and use the tag line “Real protection for real life.”
Lynda Torneck, senior vice-president, client service for ACLC, says the concept behind the campaign was to tackle the issue of incontinence directly by using humour and tapping into a familiar experience for consumers.
“It breaks conventions for the category. A lot of the advertising that has been in the marketplace has been very tame and has used a lot of euphemisms for the condition,” says Torneck. “What consumers have told us is that they want to break down the taboos, because this is nothing to be ashamed o
“They wanted something that tackles the issue head-on, and something that they relate to. And everyone has been in the position where they have to go and can’t get to a bathroom.”
Torneck says the campaign is targeted to women 40 and over, one-quarter of whom suffer from some incontinence issues.
The campaign launched in Canada earlier this week and debuts in the U.S. next week.
SCA is based in Sweden, with North American headquarters in Philadelphia. ACLC has served as the company’s North American agency of record since 2004.
