Analysing the category led us to three key insights:
1. TV is no place to air your laundry demo. Every detergent ad shows dirt coming out of fibres, but cleaning demos are the wallpaper of the category. What if, instead, people noticed us for engaging and distinctive story-telling, and we reassured them about efficacy when they were checking us in-store and online?
2. Get humorous to land serious: In an eco-media space overladen with seriousness, facts, but also greenwashing un-facts, OceanSaver needed to lands its vital message by rising above the noise and using character & humour.
3. Position the switch as the default: Much of eco messaging is driven by shocking or shaming people away from a mass behaviour. Instead, we used social norming to inspire, celebrating the behaviour of people who are already doing right by the ocean.
Giving a voice to the Ocean:
The brand’s new platform, ‘The Ocean Will Thank You’, gives a voice to the ocean, and uses that voice to thank the people who are already doing the right thing. It’s a thank you that now runs through everything OceanSaver does, and further enforces their role as reps for the sea.
New brand mascots for the brand… and the ocean:
To deliver this thank you in the real world, we harnessed the power of singing sea-life… cue the birth of four sea-shanty singing crabs - a new set of fluent brand devices that have the power to pop up across media, charm audience’s socks off, but also remind everyone of the real sea-life that needs us to change how we shop. Attenborough eat your heart out.
Results:
"The Ocean Will Thank You" TV spot scored in the top 5% of laundry ads ever tested by System1. Which, for a brand that has never been on TV before, and was up against category adverts from established 100 year old brands, had us happy as crabs.
The campaign also won the brand 250k of free air time through Sky’s nationwide Footprint Fund competition. It launched on Earth Day, April 2024, with full results expected back soon.