TENA
One of global hygiene company, Tena's key audiences are Care Giving Relatives: people who are looking after family members with incontinence.
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In the past, advertising has used rose-tinted, sunny and stress-free scenarios to illustrate caring for a loved one: a pastel-filled montage of rose gardens and smiling relatives which is laughably far from the truth.
I wrote and presented a TV script to Tena's Global CMO that portrays a reality that Carers would recognise, one that shows the hardships but also the love and its rewards.
I developed the brand platform 'This is Caring': a double-edged sentiment that differentiated the script from the sugar-coated scenes often presented, while also asserting that it is with love that Carers work through the challenges.
THIS IS CARING
This short film is made up of little moments across different carers’ days. We flash between the tough, the repetitive, and the uplifting. This is not a middle class utopia. The rooms are small to modest, the furniture is inexpensive. Minimal dialogue powerfully conveys an unspoken message: TENA understands the disorientation, the struggles and the smiles. And we’re here to make it that bit easier. This is caring.
We open zoomed in to what looks like a nappy held by a woman, just seen. Pan out. We expect to see a baby but instead two elderly legs slowly step into TENA pants.
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We cut to a small flat kitchen, where a man carefully cuts the crusts off a sandwich.
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Scene change to a bedroom at night. The blue light of an iPhone hits a figure just seen, who clicks page 14 on Google Search for ‘Caring for Dad’.
Scene change. A mum and gran sit on a sofa, sharing a blanket, their faces lit by the TV. Something sets them off laughing. Perspective switches to the TV showing fuzzy home videos: the mum as a child madly careers around an inner-city park while the now gran chases after her.
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Scene change to a man in his thirties: well built, shaven head, looks a bit intimidating. Closing a door behind him, he calls ‘Be right there’. He puts his hand over his mouth, and breaks down in tears.
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Cut to a floor shot: we see the trainers of a young teenager, and the loafers of an elderly man. Pan up and a 13 or 14 year old girl calmly gives an injection to a middle-aged man.
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The transitions become more rapid.
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A pair of unbranded incontinence pants is squeezed of liquid into a sink.
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Someone unseen taking a deep, long breath in – and out – typing ‘Yeah, I’m fine!’ into text message.
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In a car, a young woman driving and an elderly passenger both bob their heads along in time to Dionne Warwick’s ‘Walk on By’ on the radio.
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Then a woman rushing into a bathroom holding a phone to her ear, chucking a pair of used TENA pants into the bin.
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Then a laptop on a kitchen table. Someone is adding a comment to a forum post on tena.com. An elderly hand reaches across and squeezes the typing hand.
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Cut to black.
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This is caring.
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TENA.