Days ago, Swehl’s OOH campaign in partnership with creator Molly Baz was censored, pulled down from Times Square just 3 days after the start of its planned 7 day run. Clear Channel was the OOH company in question, for what its worth. Knowing a thing of two about advertising, there’s no chance Clear Channel didn’t look at or notice the ad creative until 3 days into the campaign window— they knew, they had no problem with it, that is, until they did. Bad juju, brands who do spend on OOH, I hope you’re bringing your business to Outfront or other players.
This isn’t news, we’ve seen brands like Dame or Thinx talk openly about being censored in advertising. (Turns out this was Outfront, so my bad for mentioning them above— if you’re a women-lead brand and you’ve worked with a good OOH partner, plug them in the comments for those looking!) America hates women and hates women’s bodies, the powers that be are really scared of the idea that you may look at one on your commute— especially if it’s not meant to be “sexy.” I find this bizarre for many reasons, one of them is that the population is more than half women, and we see women’s bodies (our own) several times a day— not to mention that a significant half of the population, people who don’t identify as women but sure are attracted to them or partnered with them, also do too.
I’m viewing the outrage and press as net positive for Molly, definitely positive for Swehl, who got a gajillion more impressions than a regular OOH campaign would give them, and now, the topic of our discussion today: Seed.
Seed’s marketing is lead by Ara Katz, who is brilliant, renowned, etc. I’ve only had one conversation with her back in peak Covid— a quick FaceTime in which it became immediately apparent to me that she was built different and I could learn so much from her. Crown Affair founder
has spoken about her at length many times, including this great Second Life interview/podcast episode, where she shouts out Ara as her mentor. I see Ara in all of these quick— and slow— choices that Seed made that queue it up to the absolute slam dunk it landed yesterday. (Just yesterday!)Years, actual years, ago, I heard Ara mention developing vaginal probiotics on a podcast. Seed is an incredibly science-forward brand. It’s the core of who they are. They are education-first, and they’ve even gamified engaging with their deeply scientific content, offering limited edition merch (droolworthy merch) to folks who completed quizzes on the content. I loved that approach to content marketing instead of just churning shit out on your Shopify blog into the ether, which I have spent years doing and ultimately got me not so far. It takes creativity to break out of the “this is how it’s done” mold and to test a new one with no guarantee of efficacy. I think the plot twist here is that the “this is how it’s done” mold has no guarantee of efficacy either, but it can be scary to find that out.
When I hadn’t heard anything about the vaginal probiotic actual years after hearing about it in Ara’s interview, I assumed it got scrapped. Seed launched another product instead. I looked at other brands products in this space, a pretty tough one to navigate and very word of mouth driven. There’s Lo Bosworth from the Hills who started a vaginal health brand, which I find hard to trust. There’s The Honey Pot, which is great. There are so many random brands on Amazon that look like they came from the back of a health food store in your home town that has that kind of grassy smell. All in all, there is some room for someone with the trust of women and the credibility in research and product development to break out and make vaginal health supplements that are the clear winner.
Then, just after the Swehl/Clear Channel/Molly Baz controversy, Seed goes and does this:
This is what I mean when I say it’s hard not to see Ara Katz’s deft hand orchestrating this, sticking the landing here. Did Seed just shut down the haters, connect emotionally with women, get a gajillion impressions more than a Times Square billboard warrants, and align themselves with a wildly popular creator, all with great intention and commitment to who they are, how they talk, what they make, what they do? Yup!
I thought that was it. I commented on the post. Yay! Yay for this nice ending to the story.
Reader… I realized yesterday that this was not the ending to the story! It was so very much the beginning. Seed launched their vaginal probiotic yesterday. (Shout out to
, whose newsletter was how I found out!)The billboard makes even more sense. They knocked it out of the fucking park.Activist and actress Sophia Bush did the voiceover on this fantastic launch video. The video pairs fantastically with the billboard— Swehl’s and Seed’s.
Just look at the comments if you want evidence. And then think about how many products launch every day— do you see that same response to those? Do you see customers, creators, celebrities in the comments, thanking the brand for making more stuff!? Never! Literally never. Most things launching on Instagram now get a sparse 7 likes and the founder comments with a bunch of raised hand emojis to boost engagement…
This is every brand’s dream. Mobilize and connect with America’s highest spending demographic, create something subscription-based (in business speak, better for the business) that has the potential to change their quality of life.
Good things take time: it took years, clearly, for this to come to market. Science do be that way! Seed walked that tightrope between taking the time to launch something highly considered, desired, brilliant, efficacious, while weighing all of that against a launch that felt distinctly of the moment. Clearly, they pounced fast on the Clear Channel opportunity and aligned with the Swehl campaign on a moment’s notice. You can look at their launch posts and teasers (like this engagement oriented game or the first of the puzzles) and then again you can see the care and thoughtfulness. A “something new is dropping tomorrow at 12 PST!” this is not. Seed ate, I fear. They just put on an absolute clinic in marketing.
This playbook is not replicable if you copy paste it. What your “Swehl billboard opportunity” is, only you know, and only if you can get enough space from your day to day and how you see your brand to think more critically about your target demographic and how they experience the world— and how much they aren’t thinking about you every day. It’s hard to think that way, especially when your to do list is a million miles long. There’s a reason not everybody does this or can do this. There’s a reason most marketing is mid, at best, and why so few are reluctant to do things differently. Billboards are expensive. Taking years to develop a science-based product is extremely expensive. Most brands can’t do that. But thinking outside the box, of course, is always free. It’s what gets you to starting a business in the first place. Where is that energy when you need it? What gets you there, tapping into it? I can’t tell you, but keep this case study in your pocket when you need a reminder of how important it is to chuck the worn-in playbook.
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Great analysis as usual. Loved!!
Have been watching this whole thing unfold closely—genius!! No notes. Loved this breakdown.