2010 Winners & Shortlists

The Brief

To launch Pond’s in a new region, we needed a convincing sales team especially when we are talking about a women’s face care brand. Our main objective was to get the sales guys to believe in Pond’s, in order for them to be able to convince our target audience. But Pond’s is built on the foundation of romance, and our sales guys are mostly dull, middle-aged men. We needed to educate them about romance, and transform them into romantics, in order for them to sell the brand.

Creative Execution

Although the gifts were not that surprising, they fit the brand and the region perfectly: A box of chocolates will always put a smile a woman’s face, and so would a bouquet of tulips, which also happen to be the brand’s icon. Sparkling date juice, adds cultural relevance to the campaign because in the GCC, due to cultural and religious beliefs, alcohol cannot be sent out. A special Pond’s gift set induces trial, helping to spread word-of-mouth amongst the target audience.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

To believe in Pond’s, they needed to believe in romance, and that’s what we set out to achieve. Every week for a month, we sent 200 sales guys romantic gifts for them to give to their wives. These gifts ranged from a box of chocolates, to a bottle of sparkling date juice, a bouquet of tulips and a special Pond’s gift set.

Results

The wives realised that not only did Pond’s help them to look and feel more beautiful but it made them feel more loved, adding more romance to their lives. This rubbed off on the husbands who now had a complete understanding of the power of romance and the brand. They could happily sell Pond’s with confidence. And so they did. Pond’s market share shot up from nothing, right up to 17.1% in its first six months, while close competitors took 3 years to achieve the same.