On a panel at the CLIOs earlier this month I was asked, “What gets in the way of innovation?”

“Clients,” I said.

It was good for a laugh and partially true (depending on the clients, of course). But after some more thought, I want to elaborate: Innovation can’t happen unless clients, and agencies, are attempting to solve a human problem.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for solving business problems, too. I’m even up for earning some press and awards. Just not without starting with a little truth and empathy for those sentient, passionate beings we call consumers. With sincere apologies to Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello, when I see hollow, uninspired marketing I have to ask, “What’s so funny ’bout peace, love, and understanding?”

I’m not going to waste any characters calling out the work of others. There are plenty of blogs I can recommend if that’s your poison. Instead, I want to use that B-side-turned-timeless-pop-song as a framework for dissecting a product launch that attempted to solve a very human problem. And, in doing so, provided fertile ground for some meaningful innovation in the realm of feminine care.

First, a bit of background… Almost two years ago, Kotex asked Organic to join their roster of agencies and, as our first assignment, help them shake up the category they’d invented. You can read more about it in the NY Times article, but to really appreciate the scope of this effort, spend some time on UbyKotex.com. Sure, the site looks, feels, and sounds different than your typical feminine care site. We’re most proud of what the site enables. Apart from demoing the product and soliciting sample requests, girls are invited to watch funny but telling social experiment videos testing taboos and comfort levels, spoof clichéd period ads, submit questions to be answered by a panel of moms, peers, and medical pros, sign a declaration vowing to be more comfortable with their bodies (and the word “vagina”), connect with grassroots programs dedicated to female empowerment, or learn once and for all how to insert a tampon without needing a medical degree. All of this comes with a running tally so girls can see they’re not alone, which is important – especially given the topic matter. Oh, you should also visit the YouTube channel, Facebook page, and follow our full-time UbyKotex community manager, Jordan, on Twitter.

Okay, so back to the chorus. What exactly do peace, love, and understanding have to do with marketing tampons? Turns out they were the three key ingredients to the U by Kotex launch. I’ll explain…

Peace
Peace between partner agencies often feels as genuine as the relationships on Real Housewives. However, without such peace, you will never achieve a cohesive, living marketing ecosystem. We worked well with our partner agencies on U by Kotex – JWT, Mindshare, Marina Maher Communications. Not only did our creative teams share and shape throughout the process, but account directors, strategists, producers, etc. all got along in the name of making this launch as successful as possible.

Peace didn’t happen by accident. Our clients expected it. They insisted on joint briefings and joint pitches. The more we worked together, the more we learned to leverage one another’s strengths. After a while, peace came naturally, because we’ve seen the success that comes from it.

Love
Your best work comes when you’re doing something you love. This is especially true of advertising. It’s a lot easier to sell something you believe in. We love what Kotex set out to do with this launch. And not to get all hokey, but love makes you brave. And bravery is infectious, which leads me to my next point…

When you’re selling a product with purpose, you’re selling a cause – not a campaign. Causes by their nature take longer to nurture but yield exponential dividends because once they start to resonate, they pick up more advocates and bear fruit long after the media money has been spent. Since late March we’ve already seen over one million people “break the cycle” on UbyKotex.com, and tons of spontaneous activity throughout the social sphere. Sure, the media-driven spikes have wound down but ongoing involvement hasn’t waned. We’ve seen the love.

Understanding
Understand your audience. Not as easy as it sounds, especially when you’re talking about teenage girls. To pull this off with any degree of credibility, it’s not enough to rely data points and segment profiles. You have to spend time in the shoes of today’s young woman – to suffer with them, as the Greeks would say. So we did just that, both through formal research and by asking our sisters, nieces, and daughters a lot of questions. And, perhaps more importantly, watching how they behave in groups and online.

A theme that came up time and again in our research is how confident girls are in some ways while being so uninformed in other ways. Yet, once a light was shined on a particular problem or fact, they grasp it quickly. Girls want to act on it. They want to spread the word and put their own spin on it. Just look at some of the fan videos posted to our YouTube channel or the captioned period ads on UbyKotex.com. You’ll see how a little understanding can go a long way.

The result
Once you have all these components in place – peace between agency collaborators, love for your assignment, and a deeply human understanding of your audience – the ideas just keep coming. As we were resting up from all our launch activities, we came back to an idea that popped up when we were doing a photo shoot in a women’s restroom (yes, we had permits). What about those ugly, metal vending machines that rust away on tiled walls everywhere? We’re really still doing that? We can watch the World Cup from the back of a taxi cab, but if a girl is stranded without the goods, she still has to fish for a quarter, turn the crank, and settle for a tampon disguised as a cardboard missile? So we set out to kill the ugly metal tampon dispenser and replace it with a modern, re-imagined version.

Once we concepted and designed the interface, we hired Pensa to help us build a hardware prototype of the tampon dispenser. We unveiled it at Cannes this week. Here’s Amy showing a festival goer how it works…

Sam Cannon with Amy Hodgins Carvajal