The Campaign

Any parent will tell you that ‘Brush time’ is tough. (If you’ve ever had to wrestle a three-year-old, who stubbornly refuses to brush their teeth you’ll completely understand!) For most parents it’s seen as a necessary evil. Some parents are forced to resort to bribes or tricks to get their kids to brush properly. For kids, brushing your teeth is simply something to be avoided at all costs. All in all, brush time is not fun……. for anyone. Parents are looking for ways to make it easier and kids are looking for ways to make them forget they are doing it! This was the big opportunity for Macleans. Turn ‘brush- time’ from a moment of parent child CONFLICT, to a moment of family CONNECTION.

Creative Execution

We launched our campaign at Australia’s biggest live family event - Carols in the Domain. Attended by 80,000 people and reaching +10% of the population on TV. Via a Facebook competition we gave one lucky family the chance to dance LIVE on stage with The Wiggles. We programmatically amplified our music video across mornings and early evenings, targeting parents at ‘brush-times’. While this activity created cut-through in the minds of parents, we knew we had to cut through in store to reverse sales declines. We created branded point-of-sale assets and bespoke in-store displays, which when pressed played excerpts from the song. In collaboration with Australia’s major retail partners, we created promotions giving families the chance to meet their heroes. At ‘The Wiggles’ Big Show arena tour we created an interactive family experience, allowing families to create their own personalised version of ‘Wiggle While You Brush’ video to share on social.

Our results have surpassed all expectations: We reversed the -18.1% decline of children’s toothpaste in 2016 Instead the brand grew to +22.5%, a huge growth of 41% YOY Category share increased by 40% YOY The ‘WIGGLE WHILE YOU BRUSH’ video reached nearly 1 million (985,000) of the target audience (parents of young children 0-5) within the first 6 weeks of launch. To date nearly 80% of all Aussie parents have watched the Macleans and The Wiggles video and ‘WIGGLED’ while they brushed with their children. And as a true testament to its success, GSK Global have insisted that Macleans Australia continue the partnership across 2018/19, with other global markets also looking at the potential of utilising The Wiggles. *This was the only activity running across the period. All results are directly attributable to this campaign

Our simple yet human insight resulted in a media-centric partnership that created credibility and access to the right touchpoints to make a demonstrable difference to Macleans. Our integrated media approach allowed us to use paid channels to amplify our core assets and create fame across the right family moments. Clever use of influencer/social channels created involvement and rewarded participation, while integration with instore channels allowed us to convert preference into sales. All work in this entry was born from media agency thinking. Understanding the interplay between channels was central to making this campaign successful.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

The Wiggles are childhood icons in Australia. They have sold 30 million albums and DVDs across 26 years. Their unique brand of ‘edutainment’ has catapulted them to global stardom. This made them the perfect partner for Macleans to help transform brush time. In a unique partnership we created a new oral health dance craze: “WIGGLE WHILE YOU BRUSH” The ‘WIGGLE WHILE YOU BRUSH’ song and dance was designed to be highly infectious and fun. At the heart of the campaign was a colourful and educational music video. Written/produced by The Wiggles, the video challenged kids to brush their teeth “for as long as the song goes” (conveniently the 2-minutes recommended by Australian dentists). The music video also featured ‘Captain Macleans', the brand's ambassador. This was the FIRST time in their 26-year history The Wiggles had allowed another brand’s character to appear with them.