Sky Media and DAME announce a partnership, which brings the sanitary product to TV for the first time, giving the brand a platform to scale and reach new audiences through a highly targeted TV advertising campaign that launches today.
Launched on Kickstarter in 2018, DAME is on a mission to change periods for good with positive period products free from toxins, harsh chemicals, bleach and single-use plastic. The mantra for the 30 second advert, created by Recipe, is “Bleed Red. Think Green.” and boasts an unapologetically bold creative, which sees the shameless exposure of a tampon string on TV.
Sky Ocean Ventures first partnered with DAME in 2019 as part of a dedicated funding partnership that was launched to provide start-up funding to early stage companies who were developing new innovations to address the ocean plastic crisis. DAME is one of 25 companies that Sky has invested in over the last three years through the Sky Ocean Ventures impact investment fund, which was set-up as part of Sky’s broader campaign on ocean health that was launched in 2017 – Sky Ocean Rescue. Through the partnership, Sky has provided investment funding, but also seeks to help them grow their businesses using the resources and voice of Sky to deliver meaningful solutions to the challenges we face with our current detrimental use of single use plastics.
The relationship has since evolved into a media partnership driven by Sky Media’s ‘Direct to Scale’ division – the part of the commercial business that nurtures young brands wishing to accelerate visibility and build fame through Sky content and platforms. The dedicated team has curated a highly-targeted media plan for the brand using AdSmart from Sky reaching 18-44 women in 21 specific postcode areas, relevant to the nearby stockists, with the aim to build brand awareness amongst women in the UK.
Alec Mills, Co-founder at DAME said: “We’re so excited to launch our first TV advert. It features real DAME customers and employees wearing tampons in a real way – the first of its kind to show tampon strings. We believe to normalise menstruation it’s essential to make to most authentic ad possible. Working with Sky and the Direct to Scale team has been invaluable to help get the most out of our ad and meant we were able to target the people it will most resonate with. Throughout the process of developing our ad with Recipe, we were enthused to see Clearcast taking strong action against greenwashing and asking for full substantiation on all environmental claims made. It gives us strong hope for the future that brands are being scrutinised closer than ever so customers can make easy purchasing decisions on the best products for our planet.”
Katharine Dunlap, Head of Direct to Scale at Sky Media, commented: “We’re thrilled to work with DAME on this partnership. As TV advertising becomes smarter, more addressable and more accountable, it opens up an unbelievable opportunity for start-ups to use the power of TV to make their brands famous. Through AdSmart and our other highly-targeted capabilities at Sky, businesses like DAME, and other aspirational, disruptor businesses, can directly engage their target audiences easily to help scale quickly.”
Jamie Rowles, Head of Investments at Ocean Ventures added: “It’s fantastic to be able to follow DAME through to its first TV campaign as the company continues to grow from strength to strength, delivering meaningful change in a category of products that has not historically put sustainability first.”
In addition to the TV strategy, the partnership will include a brand evaluation, which will give DAME the opportunity to test, learn and broaden the campaign’s demographics to scale the business during this and forthcoming TV campaigns.