Lifetime brand loyalty is a real hurdle for upstarts and underdogs who go head-to-head with heritage players. Many reach for the same painkiller their parents once stocked in their childhood home. Desperate times call for unorthodox measures, like when lesser-known brand Motrin created content that went outside traditional category lines.

In late 2018, Motrin was on the verge of being delisted. It had a mere 3.5% market share and a pretty painful business outlook.

Most big painkiller brands focus on performance, not Motrin. To gain share, the brand decided to speak to a new audience (millennials) via an old pain point (menstrual cramps).

Women are often quite frank about menstrual pain. Considering how skeptical young women are about advertising, Motrin had to speak their language, which it did via “Tina’s Uterus.”

TV and online spots, by OneMethod, portrayed employees coming up with ideas for Tina’s menstrual pain, before a siren interrupts to indicate that Motrin had been ingested and relief was imminent.

The spots were shared by women tagging their friends and commenting on the authentic approach, leading to a 480% increase in awareness and more than doubling purchase intent. As a result, Motrin is no longer being delisted, with "Tina’s Uterus" literally saving the brand.