The Brrrrrilliant Campaign
Hot
Cash Machine
Cold Feet
Which? vs 85
Keepy Uppy
The third Ariel campaign came after my sojourn at Grey London.
Ariel’s market share looked to be in terminal decline – attributed to a lack of consistency in how the brand was represented.
Cliff Francis, Global Creative Director for P&G, called me back to Saatchis to help with the launch of Ariel Excel Gel.
The product was unique. It looked odd, came in a strange pack, and had an amazing claim - it washed as well at 15 as anything else did at 40.
Despite this, teams in various markets had failed to crack it through 18 months of trying.
I went back to basics, with a twist - focussing on Ariel’s core equity of superior cleaning while dramatising the benefits of cold water washing.
The twist was to demonstrate the difference by using a man to do the laundry (shock, horror).
A clean uncluttered set, strong FVO from Sam Bond and a killer line did the rest.
The campaign was a massive success – 48 sheet posters teased and raised awareness of the launch (despite the usual media company doom and gloom over using outdoor) and all the TV commercials qualified above normal.
Excel Gel flew off the shelves. The work was tested and ran across Europe, picking up numerous industry brand-building prizes including Best Communication at the P&G awards in 2008.
What’s more, it turned the share decline round, put Ariel ahead of Persil in the UK for the first time, and turned out to to the most successful new product launch in a decade.
Which was brrrilliant.
