Washing powder brand, ‘Ariel’ or as the Chinese call it 碧浪 (Bì làng) is not the widely recognised brand in China that it is in other countries around the world. So the brand’s owner Procter & Gamble tasked advertising agency, Saatchi & Saatchi to raise awareness of the Ariel brand in China, and increase sales of the product.
Project overview video (Watch the Chinese Version on Sina)
The Creative Idea
Ariel wanted to do something exciting and memorable to promote its products in the largest cities of Mainland China. They also wanted to demonstrate ‘the cleaning power of Ariel‘ and for their consumers to see that there is a fun side of cleaning up stains on clothes.
Step 1: Create the world’s largest t-shirt
Ariel placed the t-shirt at 16 key sites across China’s biggest cities.
Step 2: Design a bespoke game with Nintendo Wii
Ariel's bespoke Wii controllers
Nintendo Wii controllers were placed in bottles of tomato ketchup, mustard, and soy sauce to create digital ‘stains’. A Wii controller was also placed in a bottle Ariel to clean the stains up.
Step 3: Let the people play
People were invited to play the stain and clean game at shopping malls and other locations. Some chose to make stains and others chose to clean them up.
The results
The activity generated some pretty impressive results:
- 113% increase in sales in the first month
- 300% increase in brand awareness across China
- 143 news stories in the major press and magazines
- Over 8 million views of the activity online
- Over $1 million dollars of PR value
Not bad at all. It was a great creative idea that turned a dull and everyday product into fun and enjoyable activity.
Agency credit to: Saatchi & Saatchi (Guangzhou Branch)
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