Hello Flo is growing up—sort of.
The company has had two hilarious viral successes in advertising its Period Starter Kit for girls—with "Camp Gyno" (10 million YouTube views) and "First Moon" (30 million YouTube views) setting the bar for pubescent period humor. But Hello Flo has expanded its product line, and now expands its advertising focus, too.
Its latest video pushes the "New Mom Kit," but while the target audience may be older, the humor remains just as irreverent. It's a short mockumentary called "Postpartum: The Musical," and it stars a new mom who's so traumatized by the first few months of motherhood that she writes a musical about the experience—warts and all.
"No one even warned me about cracked nipples," the woman says at the outset. "The blood, the pus, the pain. I wanted to stick my nips in a tub of Chapstick and stay there. Forever."
Company founder and CEO Naama Bloom stepped outside her comfort zone for this video. Jamie T. McCelland and Pete Marquis wrote and directed both "Camp Gyno" and "First Moon," but Bloom used a different creative team this time around—writer Sara Saedi and production company Senza Pictures.
Adweek asked Bloom about the creative process for this third spot, and the pressure to deliver after two big hits.
Why did you decide it was time to focus on a different Hello Flo product?
HelloFlo is a women's health company, and that extends beyond puberty and periods. This video is the first very public expression of that, but we've been selling the New Mom Kits on our site since the summer and also have fairly robust content on our blog, which covers many aspects of women's health.
You switched up the creative team. How come?
I first reached out to Pete and Jamie for that exact reason—we had a great collaboration and quite a bit of success on the first two videos—but timing just didn't work out. It was really scary to do something without them because I have so much faith in their ability to tell my brand's story.
How did Sara Saedi get involved?
When I found out that Pete and Jamie weren't available, I reached out to a friend who writes sitcoms in L.A. I asked her if she could recommend a few female comedy writers. I met with all of them, and Sara was my pick because she understood what I was trying to do and we had good chemistry.
Did you have several ideas for scripts?
Sara sent me a few ideas, but the one that resonated the best was the musical. She originally described it as Waiting for Guffman-esque. Since WFG is one of my all-time favorite movies, I instantly fell in love with the concept.
The lead actress is great. How did you find her?
We worked with a casting director, Matthew Wulf, who also cast the last two videos. We saw about 15 people for the part, and Leah Curney, the actress, blew us away. She was believable as a new mom, had great comedic timing, and had the voice to carry the musical numbers.
Are you expecting this video to go viral like the others did?
I don't think you can ever expect something to go viral. And compared to the previous two, this spot has a much more narrow audience. However, as someone who has given birth to two children and personally experienced everything that our main character sings and talks about, I can say with confidence that it will resonate with people. I hope when it does, they share it.
CREDITS
Client: Hello Flo
Production Company: Senza Pictures
Writer: Sara Saedi
Producer: Brandi Savitt
Casting: Wulf Casting
Music, Lyrics: Found Objects
Director of Photography: Mark Schwartzbard
Editor: David Fishel
Art Director, Wardrobe: Ally Nesmith
First Assistant Director: Lenny Payan
Production Coordinator: Julia Brady
Hair, Makeup: Rebecca Levine
Script Supervisor: Leslie Zak
Assistant Editor: Elizabeth Theis
Assistant Camera: Cory Stambler
Gaffer: GT Womack
Key Grip: Ben Hunt
Sound Mixer: Wil Masisak
Boom Operator: Matt King
Assistant Art Director: Nelson Mestril
Production Assistant: Jordan Bush