3 media campaigns that took the world by storm

The foam party

Campaign: Gillette Women Against Lazy Stubble

Brand: Gillette Mach3

Client: Procter & Gamble India

Agency: BBDO India

This campaign was the talk of the town as mainstream media picked up the story of 2000 men coming together to shave their faces in public, using the new Gillette Mach3 razor. And by participating in the Shaveathon, the men also created India’s first shaving record in the Limca Book of Records, for the most number of men shaving in a day at the same place. The campaign got over $2.5 million worth of free media coverage, which is the highest for Proctor & Gamble (P&G) India across all categories. A feat that was recognized by the Cannes 2010 jury as it awarded the agency behind it, BBDO India, India’s first and only PR silver Lion.

The success of the campaign can be gauged by the fact that sales grew by 500% and market share went up by 400% and 763,000 hits were recorded on Google. Purchase intent of the consumers was over 60%. Overall awareness of the movement was at 160 index, which is the highest awareness for any activation without television ads for P&G India. ?We were excited when we managed to scale the idea to national proportions. We were happy with the record breaking market results,? said Josy Paul, chairman, BBDO India.

Playing dirty games

Campaign: Tide Dirt Magnets

Brand: Tide

Client: Procter and Gamble India

Agency: Leo Burnett

A simple campaign, with the objective to drive Procter and Gamble’s detergent powder Tide’s superior benefit story, picked up two metals at Cannes Lions 2010. Conceptualised by Leo Burnett, the campaign Tide Dirt Magnets ‘Coffee, Ink, Egg and Ketchup’ won a silver and a bronze Lion.

The client’s brief to the agency was simple?’promote the Tide Dirt Magnets property’. The campaign wanted to change the perceptionthat white clothes once dirtied or stained can never look new again by bringing to life the Tide dirt magnet property. They came up with the Tide ‘magttraction’ magazine campaign that included some magnetised sample packs, and iron filings. The close nature of the interactivity between the readers and their experience of pulling away the stain from the garments left them stunned and smiling. This simple product demonstration truly hit a chord by placing interactivity, surprise and excitement at the forefront.

The campaign was channelised through in store merchandising and print execution called ‘magttraction. The simple act of pulling away the stain left over 40,000 readers with smiling faces. Post-release of the campaign, Tide’s value share grew from 8.2% to 9.1% in just 3 months.

Women on wheels

Campaign: Scooty Institute ?women on wheels?

Brand: Scooty Pep

Client: TVS Motors

Agency: Mudra Max

Auto maker TVS wanted to dominate the scooterette space beyond the metros. The problem was TVS Scooty was being targeted at women and women from the smaller towns were difficult to engage. The agency set up driving learning centres called ?The Scooty Institute? at its dealerships to help women learn to drive a 2-wheeler. The insight was that the consumer usually purchased the same brand that she learnt it on. So a six-day training course with lady trainers was organised and a driving license was given on the successful completion of the training programme. Over 3.9 lakh women were contacted, out of which 42,000 women were trained. The campaign, positioned as a way to empower women, was a smart move, as it was able to target women who were the biggest users of TVS Scooty. Considered as one of the biggest contact programmes in the Indian market, so far, the campaign was the appreciated as on the best media innovations of 2008-2009. In India, it picked up all the prestigious honours including the Abbies, Emvies, PMAA,WOW, Young Achievers and Big Bang awards. Globally, it won the MAA Globes Awards and Silver at Effies in 2009.