Essity, a global health and hygiene company that made a name by busting taboos surrounding feminine care and period advertising, has appointed Wunderman Thompson to handle its global ecommerce and UX design business. The brand and agency will also partner on a diversity and inclusion project for Essity’s FemCare brands to help the company better address the needs of women.
Wunderman Thompson won the business after it was invited to take part in a competitive pitch for the global briefs, run directly by the client, partly due to its direct-to-consumer commerce expertise and pioneering inclusive design practice.
The agency states that it was the first to build an “Inclusive Experience Practice” based on the three core principles of inclusive design: recognizing exclusion, learning from diversity and solving for one and extending to many.
The agency has had success in this area with the development of an inclusive deodorant product for Unilever—Degree Inclusive, which was awarded the Innovation Grand Prix at Cannes Lions—as well as winning the Social & Culture Impact category at the SXSW Innovation awards. Wunderman Thompson was also behind Tommy Adaptive for Tommy Hilfiger, a line of adaptive clothing that gave the brand a new role in culture and went on to win four Cannes Lions.
With Essity’s plans to unveil a new phase in the evolution of its FemCare brand purpose roadmap for its brands, Wunderman Thompson will support by delivering a global diversity and inclusion project. The project will aim to make Essity’s FemCare products more accessible and drive product innovation across its portfolio of brands including Bodyform (also known as Libresse), Nana, Saba and Nosotras globally.
Wunderman Thompson’s integrated offering for Essity will optimize Essity’s DTC website, customer experience and global UX & UI design system implementation. It will begin with a full test and analysis across the brand’s ecommerce services to identify and act on opportunities where the experience can be optimized for Essity’s period pants brand intimawear.
“We were really impressed with the approach to both briefs from the Wunderman Thompson team, their integrated approach and extensive experience and talent across D&I, technology, experience and commerce shone through and we’re delighted to be working together in the next stage of Essity’s evolution,” Tanja Grubner, Essity’s global marketing and communications director, feminine care, said in a statement.
“Essity’s ambitions and future-facing plans for their brands make them an inspiring new partner for us. Bringing together a team of experts from our Wunderman Thompson commerce and global inclusive design practice, we’re excited to partner with Essity to give everyone better accessibility to products that work with their needs,” added Pip Hulbert, U.K. CEO at Wunderman Thompson, in a statement.