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.

Describe the strategy

TARGET AUDIENCE: Filipinos, famously the most hygiene-obsessed in S.E.A., believed that they were already practicing good handwashing hygiene. Yet they were as likely to make do with just water instead of washing with soap and water. Filipinos are also digital natives, with internet users in the Philippines spending an average of 9h:45min daily online, the highest globally. To drive home the importance of proper handwashing, we had to avoid being seen as ‘just another handwashing ad’ amidst the cacophony of Covid-19 advisories, and create something surprising and hyper-engaging that would make Filipinos sit up, evaluate their hygiene practices, and pass the message on to others. OUR APPROACH: Who better to champion half-assed handwashing but germs themselves? Our strategy was to jolt Filipinos out of their complacency by showing things from a germ’s perspective and give the germ a voice and a platform to advocate the “benefits” of improper handwashing instead.

Describe the execution

At the heart of it all was a 2-minute music video, featuring Philippine’s first rapper influenzah (influencer) FRED D’ GERM, rapping about the wonderfully improper ways of handwashing prevalent among Filipinos Borrowing the codes of online influencers, we seeded the campaign in the week leading up to Fred D’ Germ‘s major debut into the hip-hop scene, with the help of celebrity KOLs and Fred’s own social media trolling. We served up a teaser of Fred’s upcoming rap single, mirroring the way hit songs are often released digitally. "Hugas Na Rin 'Yan" (“That’s as good as washing too!”) dropped midnight on Youtube/Facebook, a week before Global Handwashing Day. The song was later made available on digital music platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music, putting handwashing on people's playlists everywhere. The fun continued with online rap battles between Fred and Pinoy rappers, culminating in a final showdown between Fred and Safeguard.

List the results

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 about the social behaviour that inspired the work

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 during Covid-19. Most of these improper 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. As one Filipino respondent explained: “When it comes to washing, a lot of Filipinos grew up with a ‘pwede na’ mentality. As long as you got your hands wet, that’s good enough.” Washing as quickly as possible, using alcohol because they couldn’t be bothered going to the sink, or washing with just water. It’s the ‘pwede na’ or ‘that’s good enough” “that’ll do” mentality at work. Safeguard needed Filipinos to realise that when they don't wash their hands properly, it’s as if they didn’t wash them at all.