The SoftTest
Unilever
Issue 36 | September 2015
Agency
Ogilvy & Mather Singapore
Creative Team
Ogilvy & Mather, Singapore Copywriter Fabio Montero Executive Producer James Brook Partridge Art Director John-John Skoog Art Director Marcos Gemal ECD Nicolas Courant Planning Director Owen Dowling Managing Partner Rahul Gupta Account Executive Vanessa Tan Production Company Hurrah Productions
Other Credits
Unilever Asia Senior Brand Manager Anser Aly Brand Manager Felicia Ong Regional Brand Director Madhav Nayak
Date
April 2015
Background
The fabric softener market in the region was mainly about fragrance.
Comfort Pure wanted to reinforce its positioning as the fabric conditioner with ultimate softness.
Idea
The SoftTest was a live-streamed game show, where babies got to choose between two objects. One very soft one. And one not so soft... but very expensive and therefore attractive to their parents. Whichever item the babies touched, the family could take it home. The soft toy or the motorcycle?
With 92% of babies choosing the soft item, Comfort Pure demonstrated that babies will prefer softness over anything else.
Results
Results are not completed but so far: 2.5 million views in Vietnam alone and an increase in market share. The campaign has now been launched in Thailand as well and is due to be launched in more markets before the end of year.
Our Thoughts
Shocked. And stunned. I thought this would be a big winner this year. Instead it won just a single measly silver. My heart goes out to the team in their disappointment.
What I love about this idea is, first, it could only have run online. TV regulators simply wouldn't have been able to allow it on terrestrial channels. Secondly, it's selling a laundry product rather than trying to save the planet. And, by the way, it's only by doing the former that we get the money to do the latter. Thirdly, it's funny. Very funny. And Cannes this year was characterised by a distinct absence of laughs.
We'd have given it several Golds.