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Challenge: Mouth wash is a highly under penetrated category in Asia. Most consumers don’t know what role mouth wash plays. For decades, mouthwash ads have typically relied on product claims, functionality, oral health factoids and product demonstrations. In April 2016, J. Walter Thompson led the launch of a new campaign across Asia that instead connects the brand to consumer’s lifestyles to help grow the category.
Insight: Armed with the insight that Listerine users seem to have a little extra edge to them, J. Walter Thompson helped design “The Study of Bold”, a survey of 6,000 people (half of whom use Listerine and half who don’t) in six market. The study found that Listerine users indeed live bolder lives: they’re more likely to sky dive, dance in public, volunteer, eat exotic foods, start their own company, plan a trip and leave on the same day, juggle, stand up to a bully, and do card tricks.
Idea: Bring out the Bold
In Asia, J. Walter Thompson Singapore’s regional J&J hub team leveraged popular culture to create a series of memorable characters to bring the appeal of Listerine-led boldness to life: the Fearless Warrior, inspired by a famous food blogger, Handsome Teeth, which riffs off Asia’s K-Pop mania; and the Salesman, the go-get-‘em guy with the confidence to upsell anything to anyone.
Results: This campaign ran across APAC. Post the launch it helped grow Listerine’s #1 Market Share in Japan and grew the Korea business by 28%.