Knix, the intimates and apparel retailer known for leak-proof underwear, has long put its values at the front of its brand awareness strategy by initiating conversations on underrepresented topics in women’s health.
Founder and president Joanna Griffiths told The Message in 2019 that “There is a disconnect between most marketing and media and women’s real life experiences.” She bridges that gap with campaigns that spotlight real experiences with periods, fertility, postpartum, bladder leaks, and now perimenopause–the period where a menstruating body makes the sometimes years-long transition into menopause.
Knix likes to use real customers rather than models in its marketing, and Griffiths herself has appeared in some ads. In Knix’s perimenopause campaign, she is front and centre, making an appearance alongside activist and influencer Sarain Fox, and Knix ambassadors Raven Newman and Kylie Smith.
The “Invisible Period” is the campaign’s 60-second anchor film, directed by the brand’s long standing collaborator, montreal-based director Soleil Denault. Knix has been working on the campaign all year, wrote Griffiths on Linkedin.
The creative, conceptualized in-house by Griffiths, is based on the biological clock that dictates bodily functions through different stages of life, as represented by a rotating stage that the women in the video walk across.
Standing on the stage in a red dress, Griffiths starts the film by saying to the camera “We talk a lot about periods.” Then, like the passing of a baton, women of different ages and ethnicities pick up the narration as they walk across the stage: “Life begins with a missed period,” says one, “And life gets serious with your first one,” says another.
About half way through the film everything stops, including the rotating stage. “Hold on. What is happening,” says the narrator. For the rest of the film, abstract visuals are used to symbolize the disruption of the period cycle as it transitions through perimenopause into menopause, and symptoms gather in text across the screen–depression, vertigo, joint pain, and decreased fertility to name a few. According to research cited by Knix, there are 34 recognized symptoms and counting.
At the end the narrator says “We talk a lot about periods, but we don’t talk about this period,” and the super reads “90% of women feel unprepared for perimenopause.” You’ll notice that at this point, Griffiths has changed into a symbolically fitting black dress.
The video is accompanied by a landing page with quizzes, articles and expert testimonials from OBGYN Dr. Ali Rodriguez (The Latina Doc), Psychiatrist Dr. Judith Joseph, PT and women’s health expert Amanda Thebe, and relationship expert and sexologist Dr. Jess O’Reilly.
“This campaign brings much needed awareness to perimenopause and was created to help those experiencing it to feel seen and educate those who will experience it on what to expect,” said Griffiths in a release.
