Libresse
Essity (formerly SCA), which is the parent company of Libresse, was founded in Sweden in 1929 by Ivar Kreuger as a paper packaging company. The company is a global hygiene and health company, conducting sales in approximately 150 countries with a mission to improve wellbeing. Brand Purpose. According to their website, their purpose is to break V-Zone taboos to free women from stigmas. Their brand platform is called ‘Live Fearless.’ In 2020, the brand updated its identity, starting with their logo, to move away from the pink bows and sparkles that perpetuated category stereotypes and towards a brand  identity that better reflected their taboo breaking purpose. Products. ​Libresse creates a range of products to support period and daily intimate care, from pads, liners, washes, wipes, menstrual cups and period pants. Their products provide protection across a range of flows, fits, and needs. Marketing. Over the last several years, Libresse has made a name for itself with its taboo-busting advertising campaigns on topics surrounding women’s bodies and health. The brand often uses creativity to subvert shame and break down stigma, in line with their purpose. Given that these campaigns push boundaries and contain intimate moments, several have  caused some controversy at launch. Despite having to work hard to overturn media bans and get their films broadcast, Libresse has shown how empathy can rid women of shame and make them feel understood. The campaigns have moved and inspired many, and have been awarded at shows like Cannes including honor like the Glass Lion, which promotes positive cultural change affecting gender inequality and imbalance.. In 2016, Libresse launched Redfit, a campaign that featured sportswomen bleeding, proudly asserting that ‘No Blood should hold us back’. The work also provided information in collaboration with partners to support women so they could  keep active during their periods. In 2017, Libresse showed red period blood in their blood normal campaign for the first time ever in advertising. The campaign included a range of other activations to get period blood more seen within the culture. Libresse made and sold designer period underwear with French fashion house Dessu, gave away fun pad-shaped lilos to influencers, ran period positive school workshops, launched a film bursary, and incorporated hate-filled reactions to the campaign into a reactive social video. In 2018, Libresse then went on to launch Viva La Vulva. A celebration of self-love, body  positivity, and diversity, the film is a lip-sync video. A plethora of diverse representations of vulvas, from conch shell to origami sing to the track Take Yo Praise by Camille Yarbrough and every line brings women’s previously hidden and shamed genitalia to life. The campaign was a result of research that revealed a worrying increase in the number of people seeking labiaplasty - cosmetic surgery to reshape the vaginal lips. With the campaign, Libresse hoped to normalise the conversation around intimate health and show that there is no such thing as a perfect-looking vulva. Again, the brand launched  real-world activations to make changes in societal perceptions of vulvas. In order to tackle the gender imbalance of bathroom graffiti, they commissioned artists to paint giant vulva murals. They also used posters and origami books with doctors to combat shame and embarrassment in patients, and launched a fashion bursary to make a point that vaginas should be worn proudly and not surgically enhanced. In June 2020, Libresse launched #wombstories, a global campaign designed to shine a light on the unheard, unseen experiences of what it means to have a womb: the complex rollercoaster of love and hate, pleasure and  pain. The campaign touches on a number of different experiences - endometriosis, menopause, miscarriage, IVF, first periods and invites the audience to share their own #wombstories. The brand then followed with their taboo-busting activation called #painstories, which was created to help tackle the gender pain gap. Using real, visceral descriptions of endometriosis, Libresse created a tool called the Pain Dictionary to help sufferers recognise and express their chronic pain. The launch also saw the world’s first Pain Museum, to help educate and engage on the extent to which this pain is overlooked, underfunded and often ignored. Project V. Project  V is the name of the change driving initiative launched by the brand in 2020 to support the wellbeing of women across the world. As part of Project V, the brand is committed to listening to their audience - they have an ongoing research helping project, designed to better understand taboos, called the Global V-Taboo Tracker. They also represent diverse experiences in their communications and support women’s intimate health by partnering with charities and NGOs. Project V is a global initiative and Libresse brands across the world have been taking part: In Colombia, Nosotras education programme is helping young  girls understand how their bodies and minds change as they grow. The campaign has been running for 35 years, reaching 1,500,000 girls every year. In Mexico, Saba is working with schools to help young girls open up about taboos like menstruation and pregnancy in adolescence. In China, the brand partnered with the Alibaba Charity, donating 30,000 products to female medical workers, with an additional 6,000 going to hospitals in Xiaogan during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the UK, Bodyform successfully campaigned for broadcast authorities to overturn their ban on allowing period blood to be depicted as red on broadcast TV. In  France, the launch of their campaign ‘Viva La Vulva’ saw over 10,000 petitions for a ban, sparking the even bigger #JesoutiensNana movement to defend the campaign. In Italy, the Essity team participated in the Round Table Conference with the Minister of Gender Equality, aiming to break barriers to Menstrual Hygiene. Sustainability. Libresse has been working with Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) since the early 1990s to assess the potential environmental impact of their products through the entire lifestyle. Their goal is to reduce the brand’s carbon footprint by 30% by 2030. The brand has been working to reduce the environmental  impact of its new products through smart design and materials. For example, their pulp suppliers use wood fibers that come from carefully managed sources. ​Libresse has also been focused on cutting down waste. They’ve been making their products thinner and reducing their packaging in order to do so. In 2020, the brand introduced a line of reusable period pants as well as a menstrual cup in selected markets in a push towards more sustainable and environmentally friendly products. Women+. In 2021, the brand started using the term women+ to refer to their audience. By adopting this language, they are  striving to include anyone and everyone who uses their products. The + sign is intended to capture people beyond just self identifying women.