Our challenge was to launch Downy Rinse & Refresh in a breakthrough way, which had to be twofold 1) because it’s a new category and people are relatively unaware of what happens in the rinse cycle and 2) because most products claiming odor removal haven’t delivered for consumers before. We also knew we needed to resonate with our Millennial target audience in order to drive sales.

We leveraged the world’s most iconic boy band, the Backstreet Boys, to educate our hero woman (and target of Millennials in America) on how to finally remove odor from their clothes.

In the film, we see a fan upset that she has to throw away her favorite Backstreet Boys shirt. She’s worn it and washed it too many times and now it stinks. Then a poster of the Boys comes to life and sings a revised version of their hit “I Want It That Way” to help her save it.

The catchy lyrics of “tell me why” act as a setup for Rinse & Refresh’s odor-eliminating power, gets the message stuck in your head, and delivers a dose of nostalgia in the process.

Thanks to Downy and the Backstreet Boys we were able to show that your favorites can stay your favorites no matter how many times you’ve worn them.

We know everyone has a favorite garment, but sometimes set-in odors can ruin them. So we started with the insight that people’s favorite clothes are often their favorite because of where the garment came from. To tap into this insight we featured a band t-shirt, which is merchandise people definitely have a hard time letting go of, and had the band tell our hero how to save it thanks to new Downy Rinse & Refresh.

Everyone has a favorite shirt, but sometimes set-in odors can ruin them. Thankfully, new Downy Rinse & Refresh can remove odor three times better than detergent alone. So to get the word out that Rinse & Refresh can save your favorites, we wanted an iconic band with lots of merchandise that their fans have kept for a while.

Enter the most popular boy band of all time – the Backstreet Boys – and their hit song “I Want It That Way” to show how Downy Rinse & Refresh can keep your favorites your favorite. Not only were their lyrics “Tell Me Why” the perfect prompt for introducing a new product and category, but the band is one of the greatest of our target’s generation — generating nostalgia and product trial.

Our campaign drove intrigue and engagement around the new product with a 63% increase in search for Rinse & Refresh after the spot aired and it was the most searched laundry product on Amazon in December. There were over 862MM+ earned media impressions and 33.8M+ social listening impressions and counting. In just three weeks after our spot launched, Downy Rinse & Refresh saw a 25% increase in sales and at launch Rinse & Refresh drove 43% of growth for Downy.