By Malay Desai
From: Australia, created by Euro RSCG
Washing detergent brand Vanish, positioned as the best cleaner for white clothes, initiated a campaign to further its image. It pitched to the American President that it would pay $25 million for a pink hoarding of itself and some banners on his official residence, the White House.
Integrating this with short spots with the face of the campaign meeting lobbyists among other antics, the campaign banked upon the US financial debt crisis. Later, it turned the stunt into a sponsor ‘a’ white house, a promotional contest for within Australia.
Why we Like
How far would you go to sell soap? -- is what we’re essentially thinking after chancing upon this campaign, which has wound up recently amidst an attention windfall. Very far, it seems, and the milestone for that is going further with newer media, more brands and as many publicity stunts.
It’s surely not the whitest building technically, but no points for guessing that ‘sponsoring’ the White House is the big idea (of the year here), and a ludicrous one at that. It has made good noises and bad, for noises it was destined to make.
Vanish’s approach was like that of any other campaign – launch TV spot, follow up with shorter spots, leverage social media, hit streets for vox populi, integrate it all into a contest and announce winners. The only catch here was the campaign involved travelling miles to initiate enough traction and news there and return for leg two.
We like that the appointed spokesperson of the detergent, the pink-tie wearing Adam Whittaker was kept at the centre of it all and sent to interview everyone from eminent politicians to America’s commoners. Of course, it helped that the USA was (is?) battling a financial crisis and could’ve really used the promised amount for good. Not entirely shocking, despite the convincing pitch by Mr Whittaker, President Barack Obama refused this offer. (You’d have known earlier had he accepted!)
The tone through the campaign was a deadpan, a no-offence-meant one, which helped sustain a real campaign besides creating hilarity. The point in the pitch TVC where Whittaker reveals shorts under his suit and proceeds to his barbeque while ‘addressing’ the President was genius, conveying the laidback Australian attitude. And then, after earning much press and netting primetime attention, converting the campaign into a contest back home was even better genius.
In India, such a stunt such as this would definitely create news – good and bad-good in equal measure. The only question to be answered is – how far can we go to sell soap?
