The Always brand is a big name in an adolescent girl’s mind, when talking sanitary pads. For me personally, it was the first brand of pads I used as I crossed into womanhood, and have since been attached to it simply because it’s the most popular brand out there.
But in September 2019, I moved from liking the brand to loving it, as my emotional demons were poked when Always rolled out a reward campaign for school girls across Uganda, which I was a part of. Through the partnership between CTA Space and HUE, I had the pleasure of working with the brand on the SOLOOZA ALWAYS campaign, which was geared towards empowering the girl child through education.
During this campaign, schools were recruited to participate, and they were required to encourage their female students to collect empty packs of Always pads and stand a chance to win laptop computers, scholarships and a year-long supply of Always pads.
What fascinated me the most was the process and the journey of the winners. They had the most touching stories, and I know, if we had the opportunity to listen to every girls’ story who participated in this campaign, their stories would have been as compelling as the two examples I’m about to pen;
The first one is of Precious Kirabo. She’d been sent home for school fees as we went into schools to count the packs collected. She was a senior two student, who had started the collection exercise as soon as she had known about the campaign, but unfortunately, she had already been sent home. Come the day of the counting, which was a one-day exercise across the country, she was not available at school to submit her packs. What is amazing with Precious’ story is how her friends rallied behind her to make sure she returned to school, through the opportunity presented by the Solooza Always campaign. Her senior two classmates offered their packs to be added to her pile, because they appreciated that she needed the win more than they did. This, in my mind, reinforced the sense that when women stick together, they can surmount any huddle in their way. There was no cattiness that is usually referenced to women, but instead, these young girls came together to empower each other. And this is what the Always brand stands for.
“As you build your brand, aim for it to stay top-of-mind to your audience”, Deborah Alinda, Account Manager, CTA Space.
The second example is of another winner, Kahunde Immaculate, who was a senior five student. In a year, Immaculate would be going to university and she was excited about that. What she was worried about, however, was where her senior six school fees would come from! She goes to Kansanga Seeds secondary school, which is under the Universal Secondary Education (USE) program. She noted that she went around collecting the Always empty packs, even if sometimes she felt disheartened when her colleagues continuously teased her and called her names, because she seemed ever so desperate. However, she had her eyes stuck on the prize and she wasn’t about to veer. She knew how beneficial this would be to her and her family. Her close friends put in a shift for her, and she was also constantly encouraged by the senior woman teacher. She emerged the overall winner of the campaign and she bagged herself a laptop, one million shillings and a full-year supply of Always pads. She used the money to clear the balance of that term’s school fees. She also cleared all the fees of the next academic year in entirety, along with all the requirements for that year. She had no worries anymore, concerning her senior six school fees. Instead, she was looking to fully concentrate on reading so she could get the grades that would take her to university – this presented a turning point in her life of education.
As a consumer, I’m attracted to brands that genuinely come back to lift you. For many brands, the end game is revenue. For Always, it’s the symbiotic relationship formed, where you grow together with the brand – a brand that looks to build its consumer.
The Always brand has been about woman and girl child empowerment. Being able to experience this up-close and personal, through the Solooza Always campaign, has made me a forever supporter and lover of Always.
