Optiline makes disposable household goods, from paper towels and tissues to gloves, paper cups and garbage bags. The company wanted to grow and scale, so our team built a new brand platform, strategy and visual identity with homemakers as the core audience. Recognition had to grow without extra spend, so the packaging itself became the media channel. It is one of the most frequent touchpoints a brand has, and Optiline was already on the shelves of most supermarkets. The new platform launched with a special edition, Abusive Packaging, about domestic violence.
At the time of the campaign, family violence accounted for more than 40% of serious violent crimes in Russia, and over 16 million women a year became its victims. 127 countries had laws against domestic violence; Russia was not one of them. Social campaigns on the subject tried to move people to pity, and the grim statistics and the stories of victims no longer reached most of them. So we decided to be rude.

Violence starts with psychological abuse and humiliation, so the special packs spoke to buyers the way an abuser speaks. Every line works twice: as a blunt instruction for the product and as a phrase from a home where someone is being abused. "Wipe that smile off your face!" on paper towels, "Shut your mouth!" on a paper cup, "Go wash the dishes!" on household gloves, "You're such a mess!" on garbage bags.

Under the headline, small print explains the twist: "Now that was rude! Wait, this is just a pack of household gloves. However, the victims of domestic violence suffer this kind of verbal abuse for years." The rudeness lasts a second; the thought stays with the buyer at the checkout.
Every special pack carried a QR code to a petition calling for a law against domestic violence. The buyers who signed it added their voice to the push for the law to be passed.

The special packs stood on store shelves next to the new classic range. In a row of calm green packs, a bright red one shouted at the buyer, and the contrast stopped people in the aisle. Both editions share one brand platform. The classic range says "More than paper towels" or "More than household gloves"; the special edition says "More than just words".

More than paper towels. More than just words.
Market share
Media publications with a zero media budget
Brands & Communication Design 2019, Social Campaign
Tagline Awards 2019, Best Social Project