Summary / objectives

To raise funds to provide period pads to refugees & asylum seekers and the one in ten women who can’t afford them in the UK.

To increase supporter base and awareness.

To tap into a bigger audience with more disposable income. 

Background

Two years ago, while working at a local centre, Bloody Good Period’s founder Gabby Edlin was in disbelief to learn that period pads were not on the list of essential items refugees and asylum seekers were given. When she inquired why, she received the reply: ‘we only give these in an emergency’. Of course if an emergency happens to over half the population each month then this was indeed a crisis.

She posted on Facebook, as you do these days when you’re disgruntled with the world, asking friends and family to donate period pads, and the pads literally came flooding in. Bloody Good Period were born!

They are bold, brave and not ashamed to be loud. They’re unapologetically feminist, intersectional and incredibly funny! They seek to make periods the norm and end period poverty, by providing period products to the one in ten in UK who can’t afford them.

Creator / originator

Gabby Edlin: Bloody Good Period founder.

Bloody Good Period trustees.

Studio Of Our Own: a creative agency who helped with some of the creative and marketing, pro-bono.

Special characteristics

Already armed with a catchy slogan ‘Festive Period’ which lent itself to Bloody Good Period’s clever, witty and taboo-busting rhetoric.

The campaign tapped into to the organisation’s core audience of millennials’ need to move away from traditional present-buying and the pressures around giving at Christmas time and their desire to find more ethical ways of giving in a more meaningful way.

The campaign was delivered with little to no spend and a key driver for the campaign’s success and the hype created were their ambassadors and passionate influencers on social media.

Most notable were loyal period-focused female comedians: Deborah White from the podcast ‘The guilty feminist’ and Cariad Lloyd from Peep Show, QI and literally anything else you've ever laughed at.

These ambassadors’ tweets resulted in a huge increase in donations and also a bit of scandal: if you want to know more about this scandal Google the hashtag ‘Bleeders Gate!’. A little controversy certainly didn’t hurt!

Influence / impact

Bloody Good Period really understood their audience. We know across the sector how challenging it can be to engage millennials. This was their biggest success.

Having little to no fundraising budget meant they really utilised their digital platform effectively.

They were marketing not with a marketing voice, but a voice that was true to their audience, themselves and their brand.

The campaign was incredibly timely, launching throughout the Christmas period and its tone is so relevant.

The campaign has the potential to really be successful on a large scale.

Merits

This was mostly a purely digital campaign, targeting their core audience of millennials who, instead of buying physical Christmas presents, could purchase a virtual one instead. The idea was simple: you could fill up a light, medium or heavy flow stocking with money and the money would then be turned into pads. Genius!

Once users filled up their stocking they received a bloody good deed certificate which they could share on all their social media platforms with the sharable #Flohohoho

Whilst the recruitment campaign was great in raising one-off donations, periods unfortunately aren’t one-off. So as part of the journey they built in a natural regular giving ask which went even further to reaching a bigger audience with more disposable income on a regular basis. 

Results

This campaign raised almost £18,000 and grew their regular giving supporter base from six to two hundred in just one month, with pretty much only one member of staff.

They were successful in reaching their target audience: our lovely ‘millennials’. By having the cash and regular giving asks they could recruit at both ends of the spectrum in terms of age and disposable income.

What was really interesting is that as part of this campaign they engaged more men, proving this isn’t just a feminist issue, it’s a human one.

Other relevant information

Camille presented this case study at I Wish I'd Thought Of That (IWITOT) 2019 in London. She was mentored by Louise Lai, client services director at Open. Camille won the audience vote for the best fundraising idea of the day.