EMBRACE THE EXTRAORDINARY

TitleEMBRACE THE EXTRAORDINARY
BrandUNILEVER
Product / ServiceOMO
CategoryF02. Excellence in Media Planning
EntrantPHD Shanghai, CHINA
Idea Creation PHD Shanghai, CHINA
Media Placement PHD Shanghai, CHINA

Credits

Name Company Position
Chris Zhou Isobar China Deputy General Manager
Lynn Lu PHD China Group Business Director
Queenie Chen PHD China Associate Planning Director
Cosy Shi PHD China Planning Supervisor

The Campaign

Our insight was crafted from where it counts – the consumer. Combining our research panel and Unilever Consumer Marketing Insights data, we uncovered that our core target didn’t define herself as a “Mother” first. Instead, she was firstly a free-thinking individual with a thirst for adventure and exploration, who simply happened to be a nurturer amidst her many passions. Numbers revealed that over 92% of these life-jugglers pursued at least one personal interest weekly that was ‘non-negotiable me-time’, when motherly duties were handed over and her needs came first. So, whilst OMO’s ‘Dirt Is Good’ approach historically leaned into childhood development, our refreshed approach communicated that ‘getting your hands dirty’ and pursuing passions were just as appropriate for Millennial Woman. We wanted to celebrate who she was and to inspire her to progress continuously. We wanted her to ‘Embrace the Extraordinary” – to step out and experience life without limitations.

Creative Execution

Central to our six-month campaign were OMO’s core assets, a long and short-form film depicting women’s multi-faceted lives. These were distributed across multiple channels (TV, OTT, LED Billboards, Mobile Video, In-App Units), and optimised to maximise reach in key OMO and competitor markets. The manifesto video was designed as high-energy, with content that reflected today’s women’s key passion points in vibrant settings. We also formed a strategic partnership with NetEase – China’s edgiest portal site known for its socially-relevant digital content – and co-created 4 TED-talk-like events that also aired online; collaborated on long-form branded content for WeChat and Weibo engagement; co-curated an exhibition that celebrated China’s top female personalities (held at Shanghai’s premier shopping mall, K11); and capped it all off with a “New Women” award (online public voting and social amplification).

Total campaign awareness increased significantly from 35% (pre-launch in March) to 53% (by September), whilst brand attribute performance increased among non-users within a month post-launch (“Believes getting dirty is part of living a full and enriched life”: 44% (those exposed to campaign) vs. 20% (those unexposed to campaign) & “Offers something that other brands can’t”: 36% vs. 23%). We clocked over 3.1million Weibo & 44k WeChat engagements, over 24million viewed our “New Women Attitude” talks within a month of launch (240% over target), over 4.5k attended our exhibition, and we recorded over 5billion video impressions across 150 cities in China. Crucially, we also drove profits: OMO’s powder detergent market share increased from 1.84% to 4.61% in three months, and liquids grew from 3.03% to 6.06% between April and July 2017.

There’s little distinction in how laundry detergents appear unique – it’s a tough battleground where brands claw for share and margin, with little product differentiation or media application. And whilst globally effective, OMO’s 15-year ‘Dirt is Good’ approach was aggressively being replicated and mimicked by local Chinese brands. OMO’s task to cut-through in Chinese media had never been harder. But, with our ‘Embrace the Extraordinary’ campaign, we tackled this hurdle by coupling the fundamentals of reach with category-norm-breaking media tactics that brought OMO into a new era of reaching Millennial Chinese women.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

Our Millennial Woman was a life-juggler but carving out ‘me time’ – even watching an inspirational video on her daily commute – was considered just as valuable to her self-development as her domestic roles. This fueled our strategy: that for OMO to achieve its goals, media needed to go beyond laundry detergent norms and into a more meaningful space – to be as multi-faceted as our core target was. So, we crafted a multi-layered, sequential campaign, allowing us to be ‘always on’ – key when communication recency is a chief contributor to purchase intent – and across multiple channels to expand reach and deliver depth of messaging. Deeper consumer research revealed executional themes around self-development, travel, and art, leading to a mix of push (interruption) and pull (seek out) in our media mix and messaging – an essential combo to inspire Chinese women to step out and ‘Embrace the Extraordinary’.