Ob Tampons: Personal Apology
OB Tampons faced a severe distribution problem in 2010, alienating its loyal user base who relied on its unique product. The client needed to sincerely apologize to these 65,010 women, rebuild trust, and encourage their return to the brand.
Creative Idea
OB sent personalized apology songs to 65,010 loyal users to mend trust.
OB Tampons leveraged deep personalization by sending 65,010 loyal users a custom music video apology, featuring their name, to sincerely acknowledge a distribution failure and rebuild trust, transforming a product recall into a viral, heartfelt engagement.
Creative Strategy Deconstructed
Company
OB had a database of loyal customers and the capability to execute a large-scale personalized digital campaign with a unique, heartfelt message.
Category
Tampon brands typically focus on product benefits or convenience, rarely addressing emotional user loyalty or product failures with such a personal touch.
Customer
Loyal users felt personally let down and abandoned by the sudden disappearance of their preferred, unique product, craving acknowledgment and a sincere apology.
Culture
The growing expectation for brands to engage personally and the viral potential of shareable, emotionally resonant content made this apology highly effective.
Company
OB had a database of loyal customers and the capability to execute a large-scale personalized digital campaign with a unique, heartfelt message.
Category
Tampon brands typically focus on product benefits or convenience, rarely addressing emotional user loyalty or product failures with such a personal touch.
Strategy:
Rebuild trust and foster advocacy by deeply empathizing with loyal customers through personalized, emotional communication.
Customer
Loyal users felt personally let down and abandoned by the sudden disappearance of their preferred, unique product, craving acknowledgment and a sincere apology.
Culture
The growing expectation for brands to engage personally and the viral potential of shareable, emotionally resonant content made this apology highly effective.
Strategy:
Rebuild trust and foster advocacy by deeply empathizing with loyal customers through personalized, emotional communication.
Results
The campaign was designed to apologize to 65,010 loyal users who were affected by a distribution problem that caused OB tampons to be unavailable. It achieved a 61% email click-through rate to the personalized apology video. Users were then invited to share the video with friends, leading to over 1,009,200 Facebook shares (stated as over 1 million shares). The campaign garnered 1.8 million Twitter impressions. There were nearly 920,107 coupon downloads (stated as nearly 1 million coupon downloads). The campaign also received widespread worldwide news placements, including mentions in the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, The Wall Street Journal, The Globe and Mail, Advertising Age, Toronto Standard, The Times of India, The Consumerist, The Huffington Post, MSNBC, CTV, Toronto Star, thestar.com, Daily Mail, Gizmodo, Reuters, CBS News, Yahoo! News, La Presse, ABC News, Jezebel, TED, and Glamour. The campaign accumulated 27 million unique video views on the OB website.
61%
email click-through rate
1M+
Facebook shares
27M
unique video views
Strategy Technique
Empathize
OB deeply understood its loyal users felt abandoned by the product's absence. The campaign empathized by delivering a sincere, personalized apology, acknowledging their frustration and valuing their loyalty.
Creative Technique
Customize and personalize
The campaign directly addressed each loyal user by name in a unique video and email. This deep personalization made the apology incredibly impactful and emotionally resonant for every recipient.
Explore Technique
Craft Breakdown
This campaign's exceptional craft lies in its personalized songwriting and integrated digital execution, transforming a brand apology into a unique, shareable experience that deeply resonated with consumers.
The campaign's core innovation was creating 65,010 personalized apology videos, leveraging data and digital technology to deliver a deeply individual and scalable emotional experience.
The lyrics of the apology song and the accompanying email copy effectively conveyed sincere regret and a desire to reconnect, using relatable and charming language to mitigate a brand crisis.
The original composition of 'A Tender Song' is heartfelt and memorable, effectively supporting the emotional narrative of the apology and making the personalized video truly impactful.
The whimsical and romantic visual elements of the apology video, such as rose petals, skywriting, and a hot air balloon, beautifully brought the over-the-top sincerity of the apology to life.
The campaign's success stemmed from the seamless integration of data-driven personalization (Digital Craft) with emotional storytelling (Copywriting, Music, and Art Direction), creating an authentic and highly engaging apology.
