Fems, the socially responsible feminine hygiene care brand by Hemas Consumer Brands, was bestowed with an array of highly-regarded excellence awards during 2023, emerging as one of the best product brands in the country. Its strategic execution of brand activities and ability to fulfill consumer needs innovatively has helped the brand to grow its market share to position itself as the leading brand in the feminine hygiene category. Fems’ award-winning streak in 2023 proves that the brand has been unstoppable among all product brands in Sri Lanka across the aspects of consumer affinity, product quality and overall brand excellence.
The pinnacle of the awards won by Fems during the year was the prestigious Silver for ‘Product Brand of the Year’ at the SLIM Brand Excellence Awards 2023, which reflects the esteem in which the brand is held in the market amongst consumers and peers. Fems won many key accolades at the SLIM Brand Excellence awards, including the coveted Gold award for ‘CSR Brand of the Year’ and a Bronze as ‘Best New Entrant’ for Fems AYA, marking yet another milestone. Earning further recognition, Fems previously won the ‘Digital Brand Bravery Merit Award’ at the SLIM DIGIS; and the Personal Care Category Finalist award at SLIM Effies. These awards come against the backdrop of Fems receiving global recognition at the Top 50 Global Professional & Career Women Awards 2023 as the Best Community Initiative for its Fems AYA project.
Fems has steadily earned respect for its pioneering efforts in being the first brand to tackle the challenge of almost 70% women not using sanitary napkins regularly in Sri Lanka. In order to make sanitary napkins affordable, Fems launched “Fems AYA”, a high-quality sanitary napkin introduced at Rs.99/- the lowest price point in the category at the time it was launched in June 2021. Adopting a three-pronged approach, which included building awareness, addressing affordability and improving accessibility, Fems has empowered countless women and girls by making menstruation products accessible and affordable to over 300,000 households.
Understanding that convenient access to sanitary napkins remains an issue in Sri Lanka, Fems, engineered a sanitary napkin dispenser unit, to be placed in schools and corporates. In addition, awareness on good menstrual health and hygiene are major issues surrounding the feminine hygiene category in Sri Lanka, paired with deep rooted taboo and social stigma.
Fems is also transforming age-old stigma about menstruation by involving men in the conversation. It was the first brand in the category to highlight the role of men in the lives of women, especially during menstruation, through its digital campaign launched on ‘Daughters Day 2022’, empowering girls to be comfortable to open up to those surrounding her, including the men in her life.
Thus, taking a step to normalize conversation about menstruation and break social taboos, Fems was the first brand in Sri Lanka to take the bold step of showing menstrual blood as red in its TV commercials. This initiative was then followed by other brands in the category, now making it a category norm to show menstrual blood in its true form.
Addressing some key social barriers women face in their lives through showcasing real women who have overcome such barriers and social stigmas, Fems launched the “I’m Unstoppable” campaign on Women’s Day 2023, highlighting a key issue faced by women today in achieving their dreams.
In a culmination of its tireless initiatives to ensure an empowered future for women, Fems established the H.E.R Foundation in May 2023 under which all its purpose-led projects will operate. With a mandate to Help, Empower and Recognize all women rise above challenges they face in whichever aspect of their lives, the Foundation takes on as its mission the task of helping to solve period poverty; empowering women through raising the levels of education and awareness on feminine hygiene and inspiring future generations of women and girls to reach their full potential.
Fems’ progressive approach to imbuing its product with socio-economic significance to shatter societal taboos and foster dialogue about menstruation has been ably supported by a consumer-centric, data-driven and research-led approach, along with the highest standards of product quality. Judged by its scintillating performance, Fems has equally excelled in delivering a consumer preferred solution that conforms to the highest standards, while reimagining its brand image in the mind of consumers, with exemplary creativity, passion and innovation.
