The Campaign

P&G was looking for a way to strengthen the emotional connection of its brands Ariel and Downy with the Filipino consumer. There was no real budget, so we looked at available resources—like their partnership with the Red Cross, which receives 18 tons of donated clothes yearly. A good number are fashionable pieces inappropriate for calamity victims. After a typhoon, when the hot sun is up again, Pedro in a leather jacket and Maria in a long gown become absurd. Aid Couture sought to convert fashion into food, water and medicine. From the Red Cross piles, fashion finds were washed with Ariel and Downy. The country’s top stylists curated collections. Infographics depicted the life essential equivalent of each garment on price tags, promotional materials and receipts. The clothes were sold at a two-day pop-up store event. 100% of the proceeds went to aid for Typhoon Haiyan victims.

Success of the Campaign

The Aid Couture event was witnessed by some 120,000 people. In two days, it raised almost Php 600,000 worth of aid for Typhoon Haiyan victims—from ZERO investment on donated clothes. The real-time sales tracker converted this to 8,610 hot meals, 2,640 bottles of water, 255 medicine kits, 372 wound cleanser kits, 597 blanket and mat sets, 258 mosquito nets, 157 hygiene kits and 375 food supply packs. Computations by Campaigns PR Inc. (CAPRI) showed total media value earned was almost Php 10 million without any actual media money spent by P&G. This included values from print, broadcast, online articles and social media. The campaign received 1,587,850,171 impressions. With the event staged just eight days after Typhoon Haiyan, P&G was perceived as a company that was immediately responsive to the needs of the Filipinos with highly favorable mentions in traditional and social media.

Describe how the campaign/entry was launched and executed across each channel in the order of implementation.

After sorting, washing and styling the fashion finds from the Red Cross warehouses, we created infographics to communicate how each garment converted into aid. These were used as teasers on social media as early as a month before the event. We put up posters in malls. We then launched the Aid Couture website, which housed clothes-processing videos, virtual celebrity closets and other information. We sent out press kits inspired by first aid kits and got promoted on print, TV and radio. Just eight days before Aid Couture, Typhoon Haiyan struck. This prompted us to work even harder. We decided to give 100% of the proceeds to Haiyan victims. From November 16-17, clothes were displayed boutique-style at the Aid Couture pop-up store in a busy mall. Every detail spoke of aid. Price tags and receipts showed life essential equivalents. The real-time sales tracker made every purchase count on-site and online.