2020/2021 Winners & Shortlists

Why is this work relevant for Media?

Detergent brands in Lebanon spend huge amounts of money on one target audience: traditional mothers. They forgot that millennials are the biggest chunk of the Lebanese population. This was an opportunity for OMO… however, millennials paid no attention to detergent brands but loved brands who are part of their culture. Post-Credit Wash was the solution. We intercepted the year’s biggest cinema culture moment. A first in the region, our ad was placed at the end of the movie vs. the beginning. Just like that, OMO hijacked Marvel franchise’s highly anticipated post-credit scenes re-inventing the way cinema ads are typically used.

Background

In Lebanon, when thinking of detergent brands, we think of ‘traditional mothers’. A segment that looks no further than Persil and Ariel who have been repeating identical claims for decades: We’ve got new cleaning formulas! Choose us! Meanwhile, the median age of the Lebanese population is a young 30. So, when these archaic claims work with older traditional mothers, they definitely don’t resonate with the younger generation of future consumers; a dominating segment that has been blatantly ignored by all detergent brands. Including OMO. Thus, this young audience segment paid ZERO attention to any detergent brand and used whatever their mother bought. For OMO, this was an opportunity. Brief: Millennials are indifferent and unresponsive to detergent brands. How do we make them love OMO? Objective: Make millennials associate themselves with OMO.

Describe the creative idea / insights (30% of vote)

For millennials to associate themselves with OMO, we had to be part of their latest pop-culture moments. We had to prove that OMO is a brand that speaks their language. One of the decade’s biggest cultural waves was brewing in the form of movie releases. Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home. However, buying Marvel copyrights was WAY beyond our (yearly) budget. We needed a solution that allowed us to bypass copyrights while still partake in one of the biggest moments in franchise film history. Meanwhile, post-credit scenes are a staple in Marvel films. It’s a treat that all fans desperately wait for. According to entertainment authority Deadline, 97% of movie-goers remain seated during the credits, while 79% are baffled by those who don’t. Creative Idea: Hijack (arguably) the much-anticipated pop-culture moment of the year: The release of Marvel’s latest blockbusters and make OMO part of Marvel’s post-credit scenes.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

No detergent brand in the region has ever thought of targeting millennials. This was OMO’s white space. But it was risky business. If done right, this was a chance to jump ahead of our toughest competitors by targeting a promising new segment. We needed to understand them from a psychographic viewpoint. Over four weeks, Lebanese millennials were gathered in focus groups - from university students to executives in their early 30s. We wanted to know how they feel about brand love, especially when it comes to FMCG products. How could we drive millennials to identify themselves with OMO? Insight: To get hooked, millennials want brands to move beyond the point of purchase and take part in today’s cultural conversations.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

We created scene-like ads that drew parallelism between Marvel’s beloved superheroes and OMO’s cleaning superpowers. Instead of placing them before the movies started, we placed the ads before the post-credit scenes. As end-credits faded… a washing machine suddenly appeared in a laundry room. A familiar costume lay atop. Captain America’s. On the opposite countertop: a 2.5L bottle of OMO liquid detergent in all its glory. A copy read: After the battle, remove villain stains in a snap of a finger. A variation was developed for Spider-Man: Far From Home, which flips the shot upside down mimicking the superhero’s iconic viewpoint. Captain America’s costume was replaced with Spider-Man’s suit. On June 27th, 2019 our ads were placed at 4 of Grand Cinemas’ largest-attending theaters all-over Lebanon, attracting an average of 3,000 movie-goers daily. Ads played throughout the movies’ entire 2-months release period. Tickets were also turned into redeemable OMO sample coupons.

List the results (30% of vote)

Capturing our new millennial audience when they were most focused meant our ad had the desired effect. After the movie ended, movie-goers weren’t only discussing Avengers’ post-credit scene. They were also discussing OMO’s surprise appearance. Bingo: conversation (un)officially hijacked. - We reached more than 700,000 people who stayed to watch the post-credits OMO ads. (Client results) - During the films’ release period, 70% of attendees exchanged their coupon with OMO samples at the ticketing reception area. (Client results) - OMO online mentions increased by 31% throughout the campaign. (Crimson Hexagon) - OMO online positive sentiment increased by 55%. (Crimson Hexagon) While maintaining business-as-usual with traditional mothers, OMO managed to win the next generation of consumers. A breakthrough for detergent brands in the region. OMO became culturally relevant and developed a long-lasting brand affinity with Lebanese millennials. Because of its success, Post-Credits Wash will resume with 2020’s much-anticipated Marvel movie releases.