Lil-Lets Be You. Period Rewrites South Africa's Period Conversation
Lil-Lets' "Be You. Period." is a 2021 digital campaign created by Johannesburg agency Retroviral that uses an original spoken-word poem to challenge menstrual stigma and celebrate individual period experiences across South Africa, featuring activists, authors, and community founders alongside the poet who wrote it.
Lil-Lets holds the widest range of period products in South Africa. From that position of category authority, the brand launched "Be You. Period." in October 2021, as reported by Bizcommunity, choosing to move the conversation away from product education and toward inclusive empowerment. The campaign's central premise is direct: there is no single correct way to manage a period, and the diversity of those experiences deserves to be spoken aloud rather than whispered around. The campaign carries a Clapboard Score of 69/100.
The strategic vehicle is a poem. South African entrepreneur, poet, and creator Puno Selesho penned "BE YOU. PERIOD." specifically for the campaign, crafting what Lil-Lets describes as an ode to liberation and a safe space for conversations historically treated as difficult. The poem forms the spine of a digital video that features Selesho performing the work alongside a cast of menstrual health and human rights activists: Nokuzola Ndwandwe of Team Free Sanitary Pads, Pontsho Pilane — author of Flow and founder of the Free to Bleed campaign — Farah Fortune of The Pad Run, Lucy Khofi of #RealTalkWithLucyKhofi, Megan Ross — author of Milk Fever and lead responder on Lil-Lets Talk — human rights activist Regina Mary Ndlovu, and trans rights activist Nino Ayanda Maphosa. The inclusion of a trans activist was a deliberate signal that the campaign's definition of who menstruates extends beyond conventional representations in healthcare advertising, marking a notable moment for gender equality in advertising within the South African market. The campaign also incorporated an interactive digital experience and ran across social and owned channels, positioning "Be You. Period." as a fully integrated digital effort produced by 10th Street for Retroviral.
Lil-Lets entered the "Be You. Period." campaign from a specific strategic position. Per Retroviral Co Za, the brand's online share of voice prior to the campaign sat at less than ten percent, a number that significantly understated its physical retail footprint in South Africa. Early Lil-Lets marketing had historically emphasised product choice, menstrual education, and practical guidance, targeting pre-teens, teenagers, and women aged 25 to 50, according to Themediaonline Co Za. "Be You. Period." represented a deliberate break from that lineage, shifting the brand's tone from instructional to activist.
The insight driving the shift is rooted in the South African context. Menstrual stigma and period poverty remain documented social challenges across the country, and the activists featured in the campaign — each running independent movements addressing access, education, and open dialogue — gave the campaign credibility that a purely branded message could not have achieved on its own. By assembling voices already trusted in South Africa's menstrual health conversation, Retroviral gave Lil-Lets a way to participate in that conversation rather than simply broadcast into it.
Competitively, the move carried clear strategic logic. Always, produced by Procter and Gamble, and Stayfree, produced by Kimberly-Clark, are the two global brands that dominate feminine hygiene advertising at scale, according to Supermarket Co Za. Both brands have historically favoured confidence-led product messaging in their campaigns. Lil-Lets' decision to lead with poetry, activism, and explicit inclusion of trans experiences created meaningful differentiation within the South African market, staking out territory that neither major competitor had claimed. For a brand seeking to grow its share of voice in a category defined by dominant multinationals, the cultural positioning offered a route that outspending competitors on media could not have replicated.
Puno Selesho wrote the "BE YOU. PERIOD." poem as the creative foundation of the campaign. That decision — to anchor a healthcare advertising campaign in spoken-word poetry rather than product demonstration or testimonial — defined every subsequent creative choice. The poem is structured as an ode, celebrating individuality across ages, backgrounds, and gender identities, and its performance in the digital video gives the piece a live, embodied quality that standard advertising scripts cannot replicate.
Executive creative director Mike Sharman and creative director Kathryn McConnachie led the creative team at Retroviral. Account director Megan Schoeman managed the client relationship, head of design Ndumiso Nyoni shaped the visual language of the campaign, social strategist Rachael Crossley built the platform distribution approach, and managing director Pippa Misplon oversaw the agency's delivery. Production was handled by 10th Street. The combination of a clearly defined internal creative structure and a specialist production partner reflects the operational discipline that underpins what retroviral.co.za describes as Lil-Lets South Africa's most-talked-about campaign to date.
Visually and tonally, the campaign leaned into the documentary register established by its activist cast. The seven women who appear alongside Selesho — Nokuzola Ndwandwe, Pontsho Pilane, Farah Fortune, Lucy Khofi, Megan Ross, Regina Mary Ndlovu, and Nino Ayanda Maphosa — are each identified by their real work and affiliations rather than cast as anonymous talent. That transparency of identity reinforces the campaign's credibility and connects its messaging on gender equality in advertising to verifiable real-world advocacy. The interactive quiz component extended the creative concept beyond the video, inviting South African audiences to generate personalised profiles that reflected their own period experiences and widening the campaign's participatory footprint across digital channels.
"Be You. Period." produced verifiable, large-scale results in the South African market. According to retroviral.co.za, the campaign reached more than 21 million South Africans, generated R2 million in earned media, and saw 34,000 unique profiles created through the campaign's interactive digital experience. Most significantly, Lil-Lets' online share of voice increased from less than ten percent to more than 56 percent, per retroviral.co.za — a shift that represents not just a communications win but a repositioning of the brand's digital presence within South Africa's feminine hygiene category.
The awards record adds independent validation. The campaign ranked fourth globally in the 2023 Global SABRE Awards, as reported by retroviral.co.za. It also won third-best campaign overall in the EMEA region at the 2023 EMEA Platinum SABRE Awards, according to retroviral.co.za, and won Superior Achievement in Brand-Building and Integrated Marketing at the same awards. These results place a South African digital campaign, built on spoken-word poetry and activist casting, in direct comparative standing with global brand work across much larger markets and budgets.
Structurally, the campaign's effectiveness stems from the alignment between its insight and its mechanics. The interactive quiz turned passive viewers into active participants and generated the 34,000 profile figure, per retroviral.co.za, giving the brand a direct engagement data point rather than relying solely on reach. The earned media return of R2 million, per retroviral.co.za, indicates that the campaign's cultural resonance translated into editorial and organic coverage well beyond Lil-Lets' owned channels. Together, these outcomes confirm that the shift from educational to activist positioning delivered measurable commercial and cultural returns across South Africa.
"Be You. Period." is a digital campaign launched by Lil-Lets in South Africa in October 2021, created by Retroviral. It centres on an original spoken-word poem by Puno Selesho, featuring menstrual health and human rights activists, and challenges period stigma while celebrating individual menstrual experiences across ages, backgrounds, and gender identities.
Retroviral, a Johannesburg-based agency, created the campaign. Executive creative director Mike Sharman and creative director Kathryn McConnachie led the creative work, with production handled by 10th Street. The campaign's defining creative element — the poem — was written and performed by South African poet and entrepreneur Puno Selesho, who also appears in the digital video.
The campaign reached more than 21 million South Africans, according to retroviral.co.za. It also generated R2 million in earned media and 34,000 unique profiles through its interactive digital experience. Lil-Lets' online share of voice rose from less than ten percent to more than 56 percent, per retroviral.co.za, making it the brand's most-talked-about campaign to date.
The campaign ranked fourth globally at the 2023 Global SABRE Awards, as reported by retroviral.co.za. It also won third-best campaign overall in the EMEA region at the 2023 EMEA Platinum SABRE Awards and received Superior Achievement in Brand-Building and Integrated Marketing at the same ceremony, placing a South African digital campaign among the world's top-performing brand work.
Lil-Lets held the widest product range in South Africa but less than ten percent online share of voice before the campaign, per retroviral.co.za. Previous marketing focused on product education. "Be You. Period." moved toward inclusive empowerment to differentiate from global competitors Always and Stayfree and to connect credibly with South Africa's existing menstrual health advocacy community.
Gender equality in advertising shaped the campaign's casting directly. Trans rights activist Nino Ayanda Maphosa was included alongside menstrual health advocates, explicitly broadening the campaign's definition of who menstruates. This made "Be You. Period." one of the first South African menstrual health campaigns to represent trans experiences, marking a clear evolution in how Lil-Lets approached inclusive representation within the healthcare category.
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