19 Apr OPEN LETTER TO KOTEXT – THE MISPERCEPTIONS OF KOTEX

Dearly beloved Kotex, 

Allow us to demystify some of the misperceptions you are carrying around in your head (it’s #freedommonth2021 so it’s for free – no worries moghel)

1. The biggest problem with most if not all #sanitarypads brands is their disrespect and disregard for consumer insights.  

2. In your case it is either you know what women go through when they have periods Aaaaaaaand period pains YET you chose to disregard that or you do not know. 

3. We are going to give you benefit of doubt and opt for the former belief – you do KNOW what women go through!

4.  The key element missed out on here is the start point of strategy development which involves mapping out the consumer context with relevant truths of NOTED cultural realities of your audience. 

5. Simply put this means – start with the basics – WHAT DO WOMEN WISH THEY COULD BE ABLE TO HAVE/DO WHEN HAVING PERIODS.

6. Trust me on this one – at best any product we are thinking of is medication to get us through this Eve-hell (NOW there is a woman you can use in your creative strategy – she is behind this mess but ke that is a topic for another day). 

7. We are seriously not thinking of any songs – not even thinking of any alcohol brands on our heads or gyrating to any music (We not thinking of any SONG ASSOMBLIEF).

8. You need to tread carefully in driving the overly used ill-advertising strategy ya “bo darkie sing whilst cooking, washing, crying and in pain and now when they are on their periods” (we are sick and tired of that tiring and lazy approach to taking to us).

9. Whilst your ideation of alluding to “no periods should stop you from living” is noteworthy – trust us living at that point in time is being free from pain or best yet just moving from one simple day to day chore to another because ke mathata fela ka Nako ena chomi.

10. So we applaud your being in the know of what is hip and happening now – but it is utterly disrespectful to borrow those trending lifestyle concepts  and dressed up your brand without full comprehension and questioning if and how that marries with the nuances of those consumer realities of what a woman typically goes through when on her periods or having period pains. 

11. We expect better from you mntase – more so as YOU were the one who told us that you would be taking us  on some misperceptions journey because struesbob you are the one who  should have investigated for yourselves those very misperceptions as you clearly are sitting with a lot of them from the looks of things. 

12. Word of advise – It’s not just any culturally trending activity that you can just hop on its band wagon to be relevant. 

13. It starts first with customer insights of your category audience and what they typically go through – then layer that with what you desire them to be or do set against those very customers’ passion points. 

14. Stop it with the me too copied campaigns of doing what your competitor is doing by jumping straight to execution without a solid base of IMC strategy.

15. Go back to the drawing board.

16. You welcome.