Why is this work relevant for Creative Strategy?

Despite the communication challenges faced during Covid-19, Safeguard was able to grow faster than the category during this period, because of the strategic choices we made for this campaign. Our message was rooted in the cultural truths of Filipinos, which rang true, made people sit up and evaluate their hygiene practices, and compelled them to pass on the message to others. And rather than the patronising or disapproving tone of voice typical of public service campaigns, we tapped into popular culture that Filipinos not only found hyper-engaging but also used to amplify social issues and to express themselves.

Background

At the best of times, how do you get people to wash their hands? WHO hadn't cracked it. Neither had the school system, our mothers, or even Disney. Not until Covid-19 came along. Never has there been a time in modern history where we’ve all been so bombarded by advice about washing our hands. For Safeguard – the dominant anti-bacterial soap brand in the Philippines – it was hard to imagine what more the brand could say about handwashing that Filipinos hadn’t already seen or heard from government advisories to Tik Tok videos. COMMUNICATION OBJECTIVE: Create the biggest buzz for Safeguard around the importance of handwashing during Global Handwashing Day (Oct. 15), which is the biggest awareness opportunity for a soap brand to own

The Interpretation of the Challenge (30% of vote)

The “old normal” for soap advertising had to cater to a low-involved disengaged audience, and that challenge was multiplied when the category became an incredibly noisy space by mid-2020. Any brand with even the slimmest of connections was trying to earn goodwill points by talking about handwashing in some way during Covid-19. On top of that, many Filipinos believed they were already being hyper-vigilant and washing their hands as frequently as circulated in the media, and even starting to feel “hygiene fatigue”. Any more reminders to wash their hands, if delivered in the same manner, would end up getting tuned out. So, to succeed with our campaign, we had to avoid being seen as ‘just another handwashing ad’ amidst the cacophony of health advice people were already being overexposed to, and create something novel and surprising.

The Insight / Breakthrough Thinking (30% of vote)

CULTURAL INSIGHT: The reliance on “good enough” handwashing Over 80-90% of Filipino adults were revealed to wash their hands with just water, or use alcohol sanitisers in lieu of handwashing, in spite of repeated reminders. Most of these improper handwashing behaviours were 100% deliberate and intentional – they didn’t arise due to water scarcity or a lack of access to soap but due to complacency. It’s the Filipino ‘pwede na’ (‘that’s good enough” or “that’ll do”) mentality at work. Safeguard needed Filipinos to realise how vulnerable they remain to germs when they abided by the ‘pwede na’ mentality for handwashing. OUR STRATEGY: Flipping Safeguard’s “enemies” into unlikely allies Who better to champion half-assed handwashing, but germs themselves? Our strategy was to jolt Filipinos out of their complacency by showing them that their behaviour made them allies to germs.

The Creative Idea (20% of vote)

THE BIG IDEA There’s nothing like a bit of reverse psychology to get people to see things differently. Our idea was to look at things from a germ’s perspective, and give the germ a voice and a platform so Filipinos hear for themselves what germs loved about their ‘pwede na’ handwashing styles. HOW IT WAS BROUGHT TO LIFE This campaign was designed to jolt Filipinos out of their handwashing complacency, make them sit up and evaluate their hygiene practices. We decided to tap into popular culture already embraced by Filipinos - Pinoy rap music. Then we introduced the Philippine’s first rapper influenzah (influencer): FRED D’ GERM. At the heart of it all was a 2-min music video, featuring Fred rapping the wonderfully improper ways of handwashing prevalent among Filipinos. Our research on the topmost improper handwashing habits that Filipinos believed were “good enough” became the basis of our rap lyrics.

The Outcome / Results (20% of vote)

The campaign put Safeguard in the hearts and minds of the nation. We garnered astronomical attention and engagement • Fred’s music video was viewed over 25 million times on social platforms (YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) • We trended as one of the most watched ads in October 2020 on the APAC YouTube Ads Leaderboard • The campaign was picked up by major online news outlets in the Philippines, including the nation’s leading newspaper Manila Times, and industry media Adobo Magazine and Campaign Asia And strengthened handwashing leadership for Safeguard • Safeguard became the #1 soap brand associated with safe handwashing, with 90% of respondents naming the brand as being the most effective in communicating the importance of handwashing. • Within the first month of the campaign, we saw handwashing habits steadily improve: Filipinos choosing to wash their hands with anti-bacterial soap and water doubled from 32% to 64%.

Please tell us how the brand purpose inspired the work

The DNA of the Safeguard brand is rooted in the idea of “safety“. Safeguard aims to makes it safe for kids, families, communities to live life with full gusto, despite the heightened fear of germs everywhere. With so much content earnestly promoting the importance to "just wash your hands" during Covid-19, Safeguard, the brand that enables safe hands for a safer Philippines, knew that "just washing" wasn't going to be good enough. Thus we set out to drive home the message: When you don’t wash your hands properly, it’s as if you didn’t wash them at all.