BODYFORM LIBRESSE | #PERIODSOMNIA | 2023
While you sleep, the blood doesn't / Bodyform "#PERIODSOMNIA"
A thermal-camera film of what a period night actually looks like became the ad itself. It's not that you can't sleep — it's that you're not allowed to.
The problem
Night-time period care had long been an overlooked corner of the market, and Bodyform/Libresse was the challenger brand, trailing competitors in both shelf space and budget.
The insight
On period nights, discomfort, anxiety, and the fear of staining the sheets keep you awake. One in three people reportedly lose sleep to that fear, adding up to an estimated five months of lost sleep over a lifetime. The whole idea hinges on reframing "can't sleep" as "not allowed to sleep."
The idea
Directed by Kim Gehrig, the film matches seven hours of ordinary night footage with seven hours of thermal-camera footage, cut together shot-for-shot in the same framing and timing. Clots of blood are shown crawling across the body like Medusa-like creatures, laying bare the raw reality of the night — pain, passing gas, even breastfeeding through sleeplessness.
What happened
The campaign won multiple awards at Cannes Lions, including Gold, and also took home a D&AD Yellow Pencil. Sales rose 14.3% in France and 0.6% in Italy, and 63% of viewers said they wanted to try the product.
Afterthought
From Blood Normal, to Womb Stories, and now Periodsomnia — Bodyform keeps showing us what's always been kept hidden. Filming even the body's shifting temperature feels like they're really going all the way. Periods aren't just a daytime thing — if anything, nights are harder. This might be the first ad to really put that into words.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Gold 2023
