The company name may be unfamiliar, but its brands – the likes of Tena, Bodyform, Plenty, Velvet and Cushelle – are well known in households around the world. Rachael Hesno took a trip to its headquarters next door to Manchester Airport to find out more about how Essity is working to break down the stigma around intimate wellbeing.
Amid colourful cushions with cartoon vulvas in the reception of Essity’s UK consumer goods HQ in Manchester, I spot a big plush of Kenny the Koala, toilet roll brand Cushelle’s brand mascot, placed by the main entrance.
It’s immediately clear that this is not a company afraid of confronting the realities of intimate health and wellbeing.
As planes ascend above the office, I’m greeted by Essity’s marketing director Ruth Gresty and then communications director Gareth Lucy, who hope to grow the Essity name in the same way their brands have taken off.
“From a global level, the plan is to grow the Essity brand name in terms of awareness and trust, because it’s actually only five years old,” Gareth Lucy told Prolific North.
Until 2017, Essity was part of Swedish forest company SCA before the group was split in two, with Essity breaking away to focus on hygiene and health. Essity currently has six production sites and three commercial offices across the UK as well as numerous global locations.
“It’s rare to be in a company that’s almost 100 years old but be almost new. There’s this opportunity to grow the name how we want to do it and we get so much autonomy locally to do that.”
From tackling bladder weakness for both men and women with Tena to opening up the conversation around ‘periodsomnia’ with Bodyform, Essity doesn’t shy away from “breaking the taboo” through its campaigns.
“If we don’t cause a bit of outrage and a bit of offence, we’re not breaking the taboo,” he said.
Bodyform whipped up outrage over its groundbreaking advert featuring a sanitary pad with red liquid to bust the taboo, rather than blue liquid. A handful of complainants recently posted on the Complaints Board website calling for the removal of the “explicit” and “disgusting” advert.
“The outrage that it caused makes you realise just how far we still need to go for people to just talk about periods. It’s normal so it was quite shocking.”
“How dare we go red!” teased Gresty.
“You’ve got to push comfort levels for subjects like incontinence and menstruation”
Recently promoted from communications manager to director, part of Lucy’s role involves dealing with any Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) complaints but tackling important issues often ends up in a “Catch-22 situation”.
