Actor David Harbour sets up the idea that whenever you see clean clothes in a Super Bowl ad, it’s actually a Tide ad. He hijacks ads from other categories like car, beer, perfume, insurance, personal hygiene, cola and even a digital speaker pointing out clean clothes in all of them. Then he invites the audience to keep their eyes open for the next #TideAd.

During the Super Bowl, millions of viewers go online to comment on and scrutinize every ad of the broadcast. To own the social conversation, we found something all ads have in common, and gave people a filter through which they could judge every ad they saw: the presence of clean clothes. With the unexpected appearance of David Harbour hijacking different commercials, we kept the Internet guessing. People talked and laughed about laundry, questioning many of the commercials as to whether they were #TideAds. #TideAd was used 45,000 times, with people generating their own #TideAd content memes and even won Twitter’s #BrandBowl. David Harbour is the star of “Stranger Things”, the global sci-fi hit show from Netflix. He also has a cult following on social media.

Open with David Harbour driving a luxury car, your typical car ad.

David: Yeah, just your typical Super Bowl car ad, right?

Cut to David Harbour at a bar in a typical beer ad.

David: Or, a hilarious beer ad!

Cut to David Harbour in a perfume ad, standing in the middle of a giant clamshell in the ocean.

David: Or, whatever ad this is.

In the background we see his face in double exposure.

David (in the background, whispering): Whatever

Cut to David Harbour by a fence next to a farmer, the feel of it is of Americana.

David: But, it’s a Tide ad.

Cut to David in a car insurance ad. He is the insurance broker in a car crash scenario.

Man: What?

David: It’s a Tide ad.

A mechanic pops from under the car.

Mechanic: What makes it a Tide ad?

David points at the mechanic’s impeccably clean clothes.

David: There are no stains. Look at those clean clothes. What else would this be an ad for? A Razor?

Cut to a razor ad. A man is shaving, David appears in the reflection.

David: No- Tide ad

Cut to a soda ad, a bunch of millenial friends at the beach having a millennial good time. David interrupts.

SODA VO: Cold, refreshing--

David: No- Tide ad

Cut to a family using a digital assistant speaker.

DIGITAL ASSISTANT VO: Meet the all new-

The speaker interrupts them.

Digital Assistant (Robotic): No, it’s a Tide ad. Tide.

Cut to David sitting on a couch with a family- it looks like your typical Tide ad. He finishes folding some clothes.

David: So, does this make every Super Bowl ad a Tide ad?

The family looks at camera, eerily breaking the fourth wall.

Cut to end card.

SUPER: If it’s clean

David: I think it does

SUPER: It’s gotta be Tide.

David: Watch and see.

SUPER: It’s a #TideAd