The Campaign

To illustrate the superiority of the face wash, we created an extreme Japanese-style game show in which male contestants complete three labor-intensive challenges in Bangkok’s sweltering heat. The man who emerges with the least oily face wins 1 million yen. Challenge 1: Push a giant mortar up the golden mountain wearing rollerblades Challenge 2: Paddle a boat across the river while avoiding the monster Challenge 3: Fry vegetables in a pan and create a fire that blazes high enough to light the fireworks The final winner is Ryo, the least oily-faced man! He proudly uses L’Oreal Men Expert White Active Cooling Serum Foam.

Creative Execution

Even though the budget was very limited we manage to creatively produce 3 full episodes of a very realistic Japanese game show. We also took the show outside vs. shooting it in a studio to give a natural feel and make the challenge authentic and real. In terms of casting the men are Japanese and so were the show presenters. Even the audio was in Japanese with Thai dub and supers. It was posted to content sites and fan pages that many Thai men already follow. Before buying any online media, the brand got organic views of over 1 million in two weeks.

The results dramatically exceeded expectations. We reached the highest market share ever, moving L’Oreal Men Expert away from the feminine brand stereotype. Before buying any online media, the brand got organic views of over 1 million in two weeks. Additionally, the viral engagement from people talking about and sharing the content was dramatic, with over 150,000 engagement. The reach is estimated to be over 7.8 million.

In Thailand, the convention for men’s skincare brands is to use handsome and stylish celebrities who attract women by using the particular product. We wanted to engage men in a unique and different way – we found that in Thailand, a popular form of online content consumed and loved by men is wacky Japanese game shows. Our idea of replicating a Japanese game show disrupted the category by linking brand efficacy to a concept that men already find entertaining. The target is engaged where their eyes are already.