RIO Heavy Flow Pads by Nobel Hygiene launched their ‘stained screen’ campaign today, featuring the brand ambassador Radhika Apte. The digital ad urges women to wake up and choose the right pad for heavy flow, comparing the absorption capability of regular sanitary napkins, night flow pads, and RIO heavy flow pads. Super-absorbent RIO Heavy Flow pads come with double wings and absorb thrice as much as regular pads. Illustrating this feature, Apte asks users to ‘stop managing’ and switch to RIO.
The ad turns the concept of an absorbency test on its head adding a spunky set, upbeat music, and a surprise RED blood splash in the end. Staying with its policy to destigmatise menstrual blood, RIO has used red paint to depict period blood in the ad instead of the usual clinical blue seen in pad ads. The brand continues to show the real image of periods.
The ad is conceptualized by RIO’s marketing team at Nobel Hygiene Pvt Ltd and written in-house by Brand Content Editor Shayonnita Mallik. The production was led by Schbang Motion Pictures in coordination with ad-motion specialist Joel Fonseca.
Radhika Apte, a theatre and film Actress, said, “I have always resonated with RIO for how bold they are. Last year, RIO and I showed menstrual blood as RED ink in our first ad together because it’s 2021—and we can’t be depicting menstrual blood using blue ink anymore. Similarly, it’s crazy that menstruators should have to keep adjusting on heavy flow days with napkins that leak and stain all the time. And, so, we’re here to ask menstruators to ‘jaago’, to stop managing and choose a better period!”
Kartik Johari, Vice President, Marketing and Commerce, Nobel Hygiene, said, “Over the last year we’ve heard our users and worked on their feedback. The result is the all-new RIO Heavy Flow with double wings, longer and slimmer, 3x as absorbent as a regular pad—guaranteed to give you a better period. This campaign for the New and Improved RIO is thus in sync with our endeavor to give voice to women’s menstrual issues and help them choose the right product for their period issues. Don’t settle for anything less than what you deserve.”
Rachaita Vyas, Producer of the ad from Schbang Motion pictures, said, “It’s not every day that one gets to work on brands that don’t shy away from showcasing the reality. Our aim was to create an impactful message by depicting menstrual blood as it is. And with the expertise of the highly skilled product specialist Joel Fonseca, we were to be able to show the same in the most accurate manner. Further, having Radhika as the face of the brand ensures that the message cut through.”
Shayonnita Mallik, writer and Brand Content Editor, Nobel Hygiene, said, “Women don’t believe pads can be better—they use two, three pads at a time; or deal with stains and changes every few hours. We wanted to make something very different from the usual communication in this sector—both visually and tonality-wise—which would jolt women into sitting up, taking note, and saying, ‘no, we’ve got to stop managing’.”
