PERIOD. is a youth-fueled movement with ambitious goals. They distribute free menstrual products to communities in need, empower local activists through training and advocate for systemic change.
Although they wear multiple hats across the complex range of activities they deliver, PERIOD. campaigns still manage to remain innovative and eye-catching.
“We talk to volunteers, activists, donors, legislators, decision-makers,” says Michela Bedard, Executive Director of PERIOD., “So we have to be really clear in our ask and identity.”
Supported by crystal clear branding, PERIOD.’s campaigns successfully tread that tricky tightrope, while remaining innovative, fun and purposeful.
If you’re looking for design inspiration to incorporate into your next campaign plan—read on! Learn how PERIOD. recently delivered a successful campaign with plenty of pizzazz, supported by powerful branding and professional design.
Starting with strong foundations: branding & identity
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In the lead up to Menstrual Hygiene Day this year, PERIOD.’s Virtual Road Trip campaign ‘stopped in’ on social media at dozens of their global chapters to showcase their grassroots work on the ground.
The first step to the success of their Virtual Road Trip campaign was strong foundations, which began with branding and identity.
“Your branding has to tell your story to all people,” says Michela.
“We’ve been incredibly fortunate over the years to have very talented, and very experienced designers come in and help us. Without them, this would be a much more difficult journey, so we stand on their shoulders.”
Some of the most important elements in successful branding, Michela tells us, are simplicity, clarity and courage.
“I think we have the best branding in the world,” says Michela, “Our name is PERIOD., and what we do is address periods. We’re not trying to have shock value, but at the same time, we aren’t trying to hide behind who we are.”
With strong branding behind them, PERIOD.’s Virtual Road Trip aimed to demonstrate the breadth of their work and the impact that their organization has across the USA—and the globe. To build momentum and relevancy, they built the campaign toward the 28th of May, Menstrual Hygiene Day.
4 creative ideas to tell your campaign story: lessons from PERIOD.
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1. Eye-catching t-shirts & totes
It’s early April and the atmosphere at PERIOD.’s ‘packing party’ in Portland is brimming with energy. Young people—volunteers, mostly—are hustling to pack period products, as well as banners, t-shirts, stickers and tote bags in bright red text that reads, “menstrual health is a matter of human rights.”
The packs were designed to support the Virtual Road Trip, and create a sense of a shared goal and community across cities and continents. PERIOD. volunteers also spoke about the sense of purpose and confidence that can come from wearing physical items like t-shirts and tote bags.
In their brief for the 99designs creative community, PERIOD. asked for “a short engaging slogan for our activists to wear that utilizes fonts and patterns of modern Gen Z apparel,” and asked for a design to help “categorize our movement as a whole. Something bold and powerful.”
With creative submissions from Rome to Manila, and Jakarta to Algiers, PERIOD. selected a winning design from New Yorker, Julia of CLCreative, who offered a design inspired by trending typography styles along with PERIOD.’s branding colors.
During the contest, CLCreative said, “I actively seek out projects for activist orgs so I’m excited to participate.”
With bold messaging, the text-based merchandise had the power to reach volunteers and activists, as well as the decision makers they hoped to reach.
Are you interested in designing t-shirts and tote bags to bring your next campaign plan together? Here’s more on how to design and print the right shirt for the right occasion.
2. Customizable social media templates & stickers
As their ‘packing parties’ wrap up, PERIOD. begin looking toward the digital assets to support the Virtual Road Trip.
A social media presence is as essential as a telephone number—and an intentional and cohesive approach to social media design is how you gain trust from your followers. So, it’s no surprise when Michela points this out, too: “Social media is a big part of what we do,” she says. As useful as social media is, it’s also highly competitive. It was essential for PERIOD. to create eye-catching and personalized visual assets to act as a vehicle to carry the campaign’s messaging.
They engaged with designer, stephaniemadeit, on professionally designed digital ‘frames’ for their photos. These allowed them to drop in their Virtual Road Trip snaps from around the world with volunteers and activists wearing their shirts and totes, hanging up their banners and delivering their work.
stephaniemadeit also developed a range of virtual ‘stickers’ for PERIOD.’s marketing team to use across their digital placements, such as Facebook and Instagram stories, allowing content to remain on-brand and on-trend with their college-aged audiences.
Get inspired by these eye-catching designs for your social media page, or check out our complete guide on how to plan designs for your next social campaign.
3. Illustrating impact with infographics
While the PERIOD. team is working hard on the Virtual Road Trip, their ‘always on’ activities keep rolling. As with many nonprofits, donor engagement—reporting to them, ongoing communication and engaging with new donors—is essential.
To illustrate the impact of their programs to their donors, PERIOD. worked with the 99designs creative community to create an infographic.
“We love an infographic!” Michela told us. “Because we deal with national and international logistics and products, a lot of people didn’t understand what it meant to donate money to us. And so we have to show them, like, when you give five dollars to PERIOD., this is what it means.”
A design from stephaniemadeit was a stand-out. The designer said, “it was very fun to create something for such an important project. I am passionate about working with purpose-driven brands, so I’m happy to be selected as a finalist.”
With fully handmade and customized illustrations, PERIOD.’s new data-driven and on-brand infographic offered them a way to connect with their donor stakeholders.
Discover how you can create a professionally designed infographic for your business or nonprofit for inclusion in your next marketing campaign.
4. Engaging animations & video
Want to shake things up for your next campaign? PERIOD. did too.
Enter, animations and video content!
PERIOD. concluded their Virtual Road Trip toward the end of May, with a video callout for prospective volunteers and activists to join the movement.
Watch the video:
Short animated images, or GIFs, are another great way to create engaging content. In fact, they’re proven to be engaging. Twitter has even said that tweets with a GIF see 55% more engagement than those without.
Never ones to shy away from their topic, PERIOD. worked with stephaniemadeit to create a menstrual cup, period pad, tampon train animations, and more.
Consider including custom animated designs in your next campaign! Need ideas? We’ve collected some amazing examples of animated images from our global community of designers.
Things to remember
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There are so many creative ways to tell your campaign story! Consider injecting a breath of fresh air into your next campaign with bold and confident merchandise, customizable social media templates, illustrated infographics and engaging animations. Whether you’re fun and playful like PERIOD., or a brand with a more serious visual identity, there’s no excuse for a boring campaign. All in all, help from professional designers and our creative community can make campaign planning a joy!
PERIOD. was a recipient of 99nonprofits, a global initiative that provides free design services to organizations making a positive impact in their local communities and internationally.
