• by Larissa Faw , October 8, 2020

Procter & Gamble’s direct-to-consumer deodorant brand Native is rolling out to national retailers including Target, Wal-Mart, Walgreens, and the rollout is being supported by  an ad campaign developed with Cincinnati-based agency Curiosity. 

The “No is our Whoa” campaign is designed around the idea the word "no" can actually be a good thing. The creative features a female voiceover first admitting no is a frequently used word, before pivoting to suggest “no” can be a good thing, such as the elimination of aluminum and bad-for-you ingredients in deodorants.

With P&G’s dedication to increasing diversity and inclusion in advertising in mind, the campaign was led by women and included a team consisting of 30% BIPOC. 

“After months and months of refining, preparing, and navigating a COVID production, we ended up producing over 100 unique assets to bring this campaign to life,” says Katie Gerdes, creative director, Curiosity. “We found a creative hook with the word ‘no’ and took a deep dive into what it meant to both our brand and consumers. We love the fact that Native says no to nasty ingredients like aluminum and parabens and still works. That was our own ‘whoa’ moment and how we landed on our campaign line.’”

"Even before P&G acquired Native in 2018 [for $110 million], Native was a challenger brand to watch who saw a tremendous amount of DTC success by creating a product-driven completely on consumer demand. They truly have a cult-like following of customers who are loyal to Native’s portfolio of natural personal care products,” says Peyton Sutton, director of client services, Curiosity. 

This campaign is designed to have a cross-channel approach, coupled with a “social-first philosophy, meaning we are able to reach this target consumer by finding the shared meaning between them and Native at all stages of their purchase journey,” says Ashley Neel, VP of activation, Curiosity. 

For example, she explains, “we’re launching Native as the first-ever P&G verified brand on Think Dirty, which is an app committed to helping consumers identify the cleanest personal care products. Another partnership with MikMak will enable users to digitally add the Native product to their retailer cart (think Target/Walmart) directly from our ads.”