2019 Winners & Shortlists

Why is this work relevant for PR Lynx?

While detergent brands have, in some way, advocated and encouraged outdoor play-time, OMO went a step further by calling out parents (positively) sharing the harsh reality about children’s inactivity. OMO became locally relevant and gained penetration, share, value and volumes, proving that a global philosophy isn't impactful if there's simply a point-of-view on it. It is imperative to give the philosophy a context to move people to act. What we achieved, with this statement from OMO, was a discourse in society about whether dirt is bad, or actually quite good for children. Not bad for a detergent brand, right?

Background

Active play contributes to children’s healthy development. But, in the Middle East, most children spend less than an hour a day of active play. And research shows that it’s not because of the hot weather. It’s because parents don’t like seeing their children get dirty. Owing to cultural reasons and social norms, children who look dirty are judged to be a result of inadequate parenting. Plus, cleaning dirt and removing stains are seen to be painful tasks. So, believing that dirt is not good, parents have substituted children’s right to active play with digital devices and kids today have become the least active kids in history. OMO, a detergent brand, believes in quite the opposite with its philosophy of “dirt is good”. It believes that children deserve to play and get dirty as that positively impacts their healthy development. And OMO’s great at removing stains too!

Describe the creative idea.

Parents are responsible for protecting their children from activities that could harm their development. But, with dirt and stains not considered good, it’s often easier to hand kids digital devices. They keep kids satisfied and keep parents content that their children were away from dirt and stains. What some parents might not know is that there are 42 Children’s Rights, but what many parents definitely did not know was that active, outdoor play was one of those children’s rights: “EVERY CHILD HAS THE RIGHT TO PLAY.” (Article 31 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child). So, to stand out versus competitors and gain penetration, share, value and volumes, we made a statement never made before in the Middle East - that in the quest of keeping their children away from dirt, parents were keeping their children away from their FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHT: THE RIGHT TO PLAY.

Describe the strategy.

The goal was ensuring OMO’s global philosophy of "Dirt is Good" resonated locally. We didn’t ask: “How does this work in the Middle East?” Instead, we asked, “How could this work for the Middle East?” The timing needed to be during summer in the Middle East, when it's searingly hot and people hibernate indoor, living in air-conditioned boxes. But, since a majority of children, in the Middle East were hibernating all-year-round, getting them to step outside to play would be even more challenging. So, we needed to not be passive. But, be provocative. We needed to SHOW the harsh truth of kids' inactivity today, making parents SEE how they were responsible for breaking their children's fundamental human right. This would earn parents’ attention, influence them and also, influence culture. Hence, we made the first-ever brand statement enlightening parents that they were breaking their children’s fundamental right: THE RIGHT TO PLAY.

Describe the execution.

With influencers, we created a “Mother of the Year” activation on Instagram, but with a twist, where no children were inactive. On popular e-commerce platforms, we targeted parents buying electronics or video games to instead get their kids outside to play. On others, we also sold children's right to play. Social experiments showed children being asked how they’d define play, with most children being focused on digital devices not aware of their right. Regional influencers spread the message, encouraging parents to get dirty with their children. Through branded content films, we encouraged parents to exchange their kids’ consoles for their right to play. In-mall activations reminded parents of how they played outside as kids. We participated in key events around children's wellness in the region. And earned organic support from local and regional media platforms. Regional talk-shows featured children's right to play and OMO’s initiative as part of their content.

List the results.

The sustained focus and effort from OMO over 6 months, positively impacted OMO’s key brand equities and the business in the Middle East: Earned media value of over $1 million. 57% of those exposed to the campaign are now more likely or somewhat more likely to let their children play in the dirt vs. the target of 40%. Brand Relevance increased by +25% Brand Conviction increased by +43% Penetration increased by +5%. Value Share increased by +0.58%. Sales Value increased by +20%. Sales Volume increased by +16%.