Whisper heightens teen appeal

"Teens at this age start to grow a special affinity towards brands," said Megha Raturi, assitant brand manager, Whisper. "They are very concerned about their appearance."

The touchstone of the campaign is a new web portal, 'Being Girl', which allows young girls to discuss awkward, coming-of-age issues.

Filled with topics which range from whether to wear a bra to how to talk to mothers about using tampons, the site  — www.beinggirl.com.sg — aims to be a vehicle for developing close relationships with young teens. "We want our target audience to choose our brands, because we are there for her throughout puberty," said Raturi.
The site also features music downloads from pop artists such as Paula DeAnda. While the concepts were developed in-house, the site was locally adapted by an India shop Atos. Current P&G spots now include extra five-second tags to promote website traffic.

P&G has also landed an exclusive sponsorship for Girls Out Loud, a three-part series co-hosted by celebrity blogger Xiaxue and Mediacorp DJ Rosalyn Lee. The two discuss topics such as love, fame, dating and attitudes towards the internet. The series launched last month across terrestrial TV, and also promotes a web-based competition to appear on the show.

Meanwhile, Whisper has also taken to the airwaves with the voice of celebrity DJ Carrie Chong, posing as the voice of 'Iris, a girl's best friend'. Conspicuously lacking in brand mention, the spot encourages listeners to head to the Being Girl website to download a customised ringtone, created by Chong.

On ground, the campaign also adorns Bluetooth-enabled bus panels in key youth hangouts, driving consumers to the website. A possible Being Girl club is in the works and will be driven through SMS marketing.

In Singapore, Whisper commands a narrow lead in volume and revenue — having overtaken rival Kotex in Q2 this year — while Laurier trails closely behind in both areas. The three brands each claim roughly a third of the category.