Case Study: It's A Tide Ad Campaign
The brief
The Super Bowl has long provided a platform for the USA’s biggest brands to prove their creative worth. In recent years brands have taken to subverting the format to create even greater buzz on social media. In 2017 Tide and Saatchi & Saatchi did this with Bradshaw Stain, a live broadcast hi-jacking which confused viewers as to what was advertising, and what was real.
For 2018 the creative department wanted to go one better, and, in Creative Director Daniel Lobatón’s words, “To become the most loved and most memorable brand in the Super Bowl.”
The idea
With Bradshaw Stain still front-of-mind, the creative team brainstormed ideas around stains. No creative breakthroughs were forthcoming, so eventually the decided to flip the idea, and focus on cleanliness. They soon hit upon the insight that every commercial on TV featured people in perfectly clean clothes. From there they developed what Lobatón calls the ‘brand truth’ – that in fact every ad was a Tide ad.
When they took this idea to Tide, the client insisted that they stop developing further ideas, and focus on this one. And so a script for a 45-second commercial was developed in which the lead would appear to be advertising various consumer products, only to reveal that, in fact, it was a Tide ad.
The execution
Lobatón explains the big challenge they now faced, “The set-up of the 45 [second commercial] was very clear, it was more a matter of what partnerships we could get to make it bigger.” By re-creating classic ads, and inserting their own lead character, they could make the idea that all ads were Tide ads even more powerful. This took a lot of exploration, but by using Tide’s parent company P&G, they were able to reach other brands, “P&G saw the potential of partnering with brands, like Old Spice and Mr. Clean.” Says Lobatón, “They saw how big the idea could be for them.”
Actor David Harbour was chosen not only for his acting. His high profile from starring in Netflix hit sci-fi series Stranger Things added to the kudos, as did the fact that he had never starred in a major commercial before.
The Swedish filmmaking collective Traktor were brought on-board, through production company Rattling Stick. Traktor are one of the 21st Century’s most awarded directors, with four D&AD Yellow Pencils (and one Emmy) prior to 2018. They had worked with Saatchi & Saatchi on 2017’s Bradshaw Stain ad for Tide, earning two D&AD Graphite and one D&AD Wood Pencil in the process. Nevertheless, the group remain elusive, refusing to reveal their true identities in public.
The idea rested on the ability for the parody commercials to look and feel genuine. They needed to be authentic with regards to their category to retain the element of surprise and subversion. This authenticity was provided by the experience of Hoyte van Hoytema, who had worked as Director of Photography on films such as Interstellar, Dunkirk and Her. van Hoytema brought with him the genre knowledge to convincingly pull off the aesthetics and styles of automotive, pharma, and beer commercial tropes. “[van Hoytema] was having more fun than anyone else recreating the different styles. It was like shooting fifteen different commercials in four days,” says Lobatón. This extra level of authenticity added to the confusion around what was a Tide ad, and what was not.
The release
The campaign was designed to build throughout the Super Bowl, with a rigorous media plan integral to the idea working. During the first commercial break the 45 second film would be shown, followed up in the second quarter break with the takeover of the iconic Old Spice ad, featuring Isaiah Mustafa. In the third quarter the well-known Mr. Clean commercial was the target, and in the final quarter ‘pharma’ ads were pastiche-d. A live broadcast integration saw David Harbour pose as players for both the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles… simultaneously.
During the Super Bowl itself a war-room was set up, featuring representatives of Saatchi & Saatchi, media agency Hearts & Science, Tide and Twitter. The micro-blogging platform was chosen as the core social platform because of its instantaneous nature, and reputation as the go-to place for Super Bowl commentary.
At the end of the first commercial, Harbour asks the audience “does this mean every ad is a Tide ad?” Lobatón explains that this is, “pretty much Harbour handing it over to the audience”. The question invited social media users to engage with the concept. And they did. Tens of thousands of tweets from the public, and other brands, led to #TideAd being the second top trending topic of the night, after the Super Bowl itself. Harbour and Mustafa joined in the fun sending their own tweets too, adding to the buzz.
The total media buy of 90 seconds of Super Bowl airtime cost a rumoured $15m [source: AdWeek], and was overseen by Hearts & Science. Value was enhanced by the extra reach earned and social media gave the campaign.
The response
The social media and coverage continued for weeks after the event. A Valentine’s version of the ad was released, using repurposed footage from the original shoot, surprising audiences once again.
“The entire team was extremely proud of the work. Because some of us our not from the USA, we felt that just the fact that we had got to make a Super Bowl project was enough of a reward, because it’s such a big stage for advertising.” Lobatón says, “But the fact that it went further and won a Black Pencil was pretty much priceless.”
And why does he think juries and public alike were so taken by the idea? “The beauty of the idea is that we were able to teach people how to see other ads, in favour of our product benefit – clean.” Lobatón explains, “The other thing is that we actually added value to the viewing experience; it was no longer a passive viewing of every ad, we turned it into our own guessing game.” He finishes, “Those two things make the case for why this idea was important.”
