Matt Sourwine | Creative Director | Syracuse NY - Control Menstrual Cramp Cream

Control Menstrual Cramp Cream.

Building a bold wellness brand around a deeply personal pain point.

I worked closely with Control Menstrual Cramp Relief Cream for years, building a strong relationship with their team and leading the creative strategy to help them stand out in a competitive market. Alongside my creative team, we consistently developed new, bold campaign ideas to raise awareness of their product. I’m especially proud of the national campaigns we produced, which were heavily video-driven, helping to elevate their brand and reach a wider audience.

Turning Period Pain Into an Unexpected Bachelorette Story

I developed the concept for a national commercial centered around a bachelorette weekend interrupted by period cramps. The idea followed the bride as pain began getting in the way of the celebration, until one of her bridesmaids introduced her to the product and helped turn the weekend around.

As lead Creative Director, I helped shape the story arc, write the script and identify the full range of deliverables needed to support the national campaign. I presented the concept and budget to the client, helped cast the bridal party, sourced locations and production resources, and coordinated logistics alongside my creative team and colleagues from a sister company. I remained closely involved through the Nashville shoot and final edits, helping ensure the humor, pacing and product story landed the way we intended.

Bring Product Relief to Life Through a High-Energy Performance

For a second national commercial, I developed a much more visually unexpected concept built around a lead drummer struggling to perform because of period cramps. After using the product, she returns to the drumline with renewed energy, turning the product benefit into a bold, high-impact performance story.

I led the concept and creative direction, helped develop the story and script, presented the production approach and budget to the client, and mapped out the deliverables needed for the broader campaign. The production required sourcing a drumline group from Las Vegas, coordinating talent, locations, vendors and logistics, and bringing everything together during the same Nashville production week. I also provided art direction throughout post-production, helping shape the final pacing, music, storytelling and overall execution into one of the brand’s most memorable campaign pieces.

Vox Pop (Voice of the People) Commercials

With this client being open to bold ideas, I saw an opportunity to move beyond traditional product advertising and develop a series of vox pop-style videos built around real, spontaneous conversations. Inspired by the conversational formats gaining traction across social media, I pitched a concept designed to feel unexpected, humorous and highly watchable. We strategically centered the shoot around an Olympian women’s bobsledder who already had a partnership with the brand, giving the campaign an authentic personality and a natural way into the conversation.

I led the overall creative direction, concept development and budgeting, then worked with my video team to bring the idea to life on the streets of Nashville. The shoot ultimately produced a wide range of paid social edits, each built to capture attention quickly, spark conversation and keep viewers engaged through humor and strong production value. The campaign delivered exactly what we set out to create: a distinctive series of ads that felt more like entertaining content than traditional advertising, while helping the brand stand out in a crowded category.

Organic Review-Based Commercials

Alongside our sister company in Pennsylvania, we filmed three national campaign commercials in a historic downtown mansion in Harrisburg. These videos were designed to feel like organic product reviews, creating an authentic connection with audiences. I played a key role in casting talent and crafting the messaging to ensure a natural and engaging delivery. The social-first campaign generated strong engagement, with the mom-focused video performing the best.

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Results

The campaigns generated millions of impressions nationwide across a wide range of formats and placements, driving significant brand awareness, strong social engagement and a substantial lift in sales. Just as importantly, the client embraced the bold, unconventional thinking our creative team consistently brought to the table, giving us the freedom to experiment, challenge category norms and continually find new ways to get the product noticed.

Over the course of our partnership, we also watched the brand grow from selling primarily through its own website to achieving distribution through major retailers including Walmart, Hy-Vee and Rite Aid, along with a presence on Amazon. Seeing that evolution was incredibly rewarding. Our creative work helped build awareness, establish credibility and introduce the product to increasingly larger audiences as the brand expanded its reach.

This became one of the most creatively involved client partnerships of my career, spanning brand strategy, concept development, video production, paid media creative, social content and ongoing experimentation. More than any single execution, the work demonstrates what can happen when ambitious ideas, strong execution and a client willing to take creative risks come together over time.