2010 Winners & Shortlists

The Brief

The Pond’s launch in Arabia was a big deal. It needed internal hype, excitement, and a unique idea that could always be remembered. We needed to make internal staff feel involved with the growth of the brand in the most exciting manner. We wanted to give something to staff, that could resemble Pond’s. Something that starts small, that they could grow, nurture and love.

Creative Execution

We wanted them to experience the growth of the brand for themselves, and this is exactly what we achieved. Tulips are the brand’s icon, so it worked perfectly to grow tulips as a metaphor for growing the brand. Giving out 1,049 tulip gift packages is not something that happens on a regular basis, certainly not on the same day. And although giving out flowers is a common gesture, it couldn’t have fit Pond’s any better. By offering a romantic prize, this helped to reinforce the link between Pond’s and romance.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

1,049 specially designed Pond’s boxes containing pre-planted red tulip bulbs were given to every staff member across six countries in the GCC, along with an instruction booklet as to how to grow, nurture and love their tulip. Not only did these tulips function as nice gifts to represent the brand, they were also part of a competition. 10 of the tulip pots were planted with pink tulips instead of red, and those who grew them won a romantic experience for two. This was all explained in the little booklet.

Results

This internal campaign literally touched everybody’s senses, with real life tulips. They could actually see the iconic brand growing in front of them. The fact that it was a competition ensured that absolutely all staff members looked after their tulips. Staff were excited about the launch, and thought that the tulip giveaways were a great way to spread hype and awareness. All this and more contributed to the biggest and most successful Unilever Arabia launch. This activity helped to take Pond’s market share from 0% right up to 17.1% in its first 6 months, while close competitors took 3 years.