The Brief

Rexona needed to grow the deodorant category beyond 30% in Hong Kong and make its deodorants an ‘everyday habit’ amongst deodorant dodgers. Recognising that image conscious HK consumers will do anything to avoid embarrassing social labels. Our solution was “Rexona Police” –the Anti-Smell Agents of the “No Smell Association”, a new and powerful pressure group designed to Knock off Body Odour. Their task was to get consumers to RECOGNISE body odour problems, REVEAL the victims and the causes of body odour, and help them RESOLVE their problem by using Rexona to be sweat-proof everyday, rather than being labeled as smelly!

Creative Execution

We creatively exploited the insight of ‘Social pressure’ as a means to increase category penetration and to change consumer behavior for the importance of using deodorant. The idea not only proved effective but also was a feasible approach to sustain the momentum created for using deodorants ‘every day’ and extended the product usage from its current use. The campaign clearly depicts that not only it is important to engage consumers but also a strategic approach to deliver impressive results.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

We raised public concern via a viral video –What? A 3 year-old kid fainted due to intense body odour. In social media and magazines, reports from the “No Smell Association” unveiled a new social movement - 'Say No to Smelly Guys/Girls’! Once we had activated consumers’ self-consciousness, it was time to call in “Rexona Police” to recruit undercover Anti-Smell-Agents who could ‘secretly’ report their smelly friends. Daily ‘wanted’ Facebook newsfeeds from Rexona Police urged the suspects to review their daily activities. They could only remove their ‘smelly’ labelling by discovering the causes of odour and have their friends verified it.

Results

Over 80,000 deodorant dodging suspects were reported that resulted in over 500,000 Rexona bottles sold in just TWO months! Volume sales were up by 8.4% year on year and the category grew by 7%, driven mainly by Rexona. A massive achievement considering how hard it is to change consumer behaviour!