Results and Effectiveness

More than 300 participants took part in the contest in a span of 2 months creating a wealth of quality content for the brand to leverage. Most importantly we had an ahhhhmazing effect on the client’s bottom line. They saw a 28% sales increase during the start of the campaign and a total 3% increase over the entire phase of the campaign.

Creative Execution

The “Listerine Ahhhmazing Rinse Contest” invited people upload to a microsite their own commercial featuring them gargling crazily before releasing an exaggerated ‘Ahhhhh’. People rinsed wearing Viking hats, trying to talk on phones and even doing one-armed press-ups! Videos were given individually written voice overs with wild and wonderful descriptions of the individual whilst integrating seamlessly the product benefits. The best 15 videos were aired on national television. Participants and their friends were informed when the ad would run and could gather together to watch them go ‘ahhhhh’ for the nation on Channels 5 and 8! The competition was promoted through a partnership with irreverent TV news parody The Noose whose star, Michelle Chong produced a promo spot. On-ground activation in malls and polytechnics plus search and banner ads in Facebook and MSN were used to ensure we captured the digital natives most likely to participate.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

The mouthwash category has been in decline for the past year. Most people think that gargling mouthwash is not necessary and that brushing alone is enough. We had to make people question their oral hygiene routine – that without Listerine mouthwash they were missing out on true oral freshness. We identified that because oral hygiene routines are private, people reached their own conclusions as to what was ‘normal’. The powerful taste of Listerine and other mouthwashes served often made consumers see it as an ‘extra’ for occasional use rather than everyday item. In order to get people to question their oral hygiene routine, we need to dramatise mass use of Listerine and the benefits it brings. We saw that the ‘ahhhhhhh’ – the fresh noise following a vigorous rinse – was a powerful representation of the benefits felt by Listerene users. We wanted to place the rinse and ‘ahhhhh’ in the public eye.