• by Les Luchter , September 27, 2024

Women’s sexual telehealth provider Wisp and at-home vaginal test provider Daye have teamed up to move their advertising to the trash -- quite literally.

Hundreds of Bigbelly solar-powered recycling trash bins in Brooklyn and Atlanta are now adorned with ads spouting such phrases as “Don’t trash your vaginal health,” “Trash that yeast infection for good” and “Your vagina has more (good) bacterial than this trash can.”

”We’re kind of picking up on how many [people] think vaginas might be dirty. We wanted to nip that in the bud and flip it on its head,” Wisp Vice President of Marketing Jennifer Dwork tells Marketing Daily. “These ads really speak directly to that trash bin, kind of tongue-in-cheek.”

The trash bins have “a lot of real estate,” Dwork explains, allowing for several different ad placements per bin.

“We have both of our logos,” she says. “We have a QR code that goes back to the testing kit on our site. We’re able to track that and see the direct impact.”

Wisp’s new campaign also includes ads wrapped around a truck in Chicago, displaying the line “Uncensored V Care, V Fast” covering over what has become Wisp’s out-of-home calling card: pre-censored vagina images, partly designed to call attention to prior censorship of such advertising as well as the stigma still associated with the subject area.

That point has already been made in this case, as the truck was scheduled to debut a couple of weeks ago, but “the driver felt uncomfortable with the campaign content and the companies were forced to delay the start date,” according to a Wisp spokesperson.

A driver was found and the truck hit the road on Monday.

The vulvas pictured in the truck ads are a bit more explicit than the pixilated ones used in a Manhattan OOH campaign earlier this summer, so Dwork says they “might be a little more provocative.”

Both the trash bins and trucks are not places where ads about vaginal care are expected, Dwork says. “We really love that juxtaposition.”

The goal is to increase awareness for both brands and lift sales in the three markets, Dwork says.

Brooklyn, Atlanta and Chicago were chosen because they are among Wisp’s top markets in terms of both traffic and revenue, she says, and also have diverse demographics.  “We’ve often found that even if you live in major urban area, the wait time 30 to 60 days to see an Ob/gyn [in person].”

The two-month campaign is targeting a core audience of 25- 45-year-old females who may need “quick care,” Dwork says.

Wisp has been selling Daye’s vaginal test on its site since July. “Then, if you have an infection, you can come back to us for a discounted rate” on treatment.