Reproductive health, and the ways in which individual companies can show solidarity for individuals when it comes to the fight for their rights, is the topic of the moment. One voice in that fight is Natalist, a consumer brand that guides female-bodied people through preconception, pregnancy, and postpartum, “to forge a future where women’s reproductive health is grounded in reconnection.” Products range from supplements to fertility tests and body care. The company was acquired by healthcare provider Everly Health in 2021 to bring its offerings to a wider audience.
The company recently released its Always in Awe campaign, created in partnership with creative agency Preacher, which follows along in the daily lives of a diverse range of individuals going through different stages of their reproductive health, from pleasure to parenthood. “We decided to launch this campaign at a time when women are navigating a complex healthcare system. As a reproductive healthcare brand, we felt that the industry could benefit from the realism behind speaking to women authentically beyond the end goal of pregnancy,”Jenifer Dasho, Everly Health Chief Marketing Officer and Natalist General Manager, tells BeautyMatter. “Always in Awe is meant to celebrate every stage and moment of authentic reproductive journeys—not just the picturesque ones. We hope the campaign will help women redefine their relationships with their bodies by encouraging them to reconnect with themselves and be in awe of what they’re capable of.”
Unfortunately, the television ad faced scrutiny and extensive censorship from television networks—a censorship that is not a rare occurrence, but a daily happening across all online platforms. “There is a lack of content that celebrates women’s bodies, specifically related to the reproductive journey, through traditional and new media. Millions of births happen annually, yet authentic content highlighting women’s bodies and the reproductive journey—from trying to conceive (TTC) to pregnancy to postpartum—is largely ignored by mainstream media,” Dasho adds. With Meta recently announcing its overhaul of sexual health censorship, thanks to actions like menstrual care brand Fewe’s open letter to call for change, hopefully this will change, but it will require unity on all fronts. In Natalist’s case, the censorship was around subject matter such as IVF injections and milk stains on a shirt from breastfeeding.
“Everyone's reproductive journey is different, and you should be able to see your experience represented when you turn on the TV or scroll through social media,” Dasho proclaims. “There is a stark contradiction between how mainstream media portrays women’s bodies—censored or, conversely, overtly sexualized. Not depicting our reproductive health journeys through media is a significant miss on utilizing an accessible, educational vehicle for women to learn more about themselves and their fertility and to truly feel present.”
Aside from speaking to a more inclusive and uncensored representation of all the wonders of the reproductive health journey throughout one’s life, Natalist is also indicative of an increasing blurring between the worlds of wellness and a more holistic take on healthcare. “The convergence of the beauty and wellness industries is a result of people becoming increasingly more health conscious and understanding that their wellness habits heavily influence not just how they look, but how they feel. People are looking for ways to move beyond just topical treatments and focus on their holistic health,” Dasho states. One such way is through an increase in demand for clinically backed and formulated products.
Speaking on the vision for the campaign, Aisha Hakim and Ryan Durr, Associate Creative Directors at Preacher, remark: “We made a very intentional decision to focus on embodiment rather than empowerment with this campaign. Both Natalist and Preacher share the belief that feeling deeply connected to one’s own reproductive health is a birthright, and that powering through is not a requirement of being powerful.”
Hakim and Durr, who incorporated various experiences ranging from endometriosis to postpartum depression into the campaign, opted to have a spoken-word poem as the audio over the visual story, to create “ a love letter to the marvels of the lived female experience.” In crafting the campaign, the duo notes that the biggest challenge was to capture the wide spectrum of experiences without sacrificing authenticity and uniqueness.
“We knew we wouldn’t be able to recreate the visceral emotions of a baby being born in a delivery room, or a couple undergoing their very first IVF injection. So, we decided on a mixed-media approach that blended user-generated content with stills and footage from our photographer, Brianna Roye. We scoured every social platform and watched countless personal home movies to find the right moments that touched on all these different reproductive journeys,” they add.
Always in Awe is a heartfelt appeal to the importance of upholding and celebrating the precious chapters of the reproductive health journey, no matter which shape they may take. For companies speaking to these audiences, it is important to speak their consumers’ truths, regardless of risking censorship. Even if the media landscape hasn’t reached a fully uncensored state yet in regards to reproductive health, for brands having the courage to stick to their convictions, crafting campaigns that have a genuine message supersedes the obstacles of bureaucracy. As Hakim and Durr note: “The presentation was one of those rare moments of collective goosebumps. We knew we had something special.”
