Background

Situation: Though an iconic brand asset, Cif creams were declining in penetration & relevance amongst younger consumers.

Armed with key insight about what the barriers were for usage amongst creams, (unsure of how to use, lack of awareness) – the global team knew what message to land, and where to land it. As the brief was drive fresh reappraisal, there was license to be punchy with the creative to create a set of assets that would deliver on a big job to be done.

Brief: “Make creams cool again” - drive reappraisal of Cif creams & demonstrate product usage, with a campaign that is tiktok native & can be relevant globally – targeting Gen Z & millennials.

Objectives: Reach a new younger audience, driving top of funnel awareness of Cif creams amongst younger consumers in our key markets. Drive brand preference amongst younger consumers.

The big idea – The Remix “Cleaning hacks x Banging Tracks” – combining what resonates with #Cleantok (and would show product usage) with what creates “thumb-stopping” content (viral music, unexpected humour, low fi production).

We cut Cif cleaning hack vids to catchy songs with reworked lyrics, e.g. Benny Benassi’s pop banger ‘Satisfaction’, with the words changed to: “Pop me [bottle pops open] and then just squirt me [squiiiirt] so I can get my [cleaning] satis-hack-tion” [sparkle, Ting!] Lyrics appear onscreen with a karaoke-style ball bouncing over them, so it works without sound. The same track could work for all 10 hacks, or we can switch out the song

3 parts = establish relatable situation, reveal Cif product, demonstrate effective cleaning.

Looking at our target tribes on social – built across robust data from all of our key markets – we used social listening to establish 10 seasonally & market agnostic relatable situations. These were post dinner party, bike cleaning, make-up, crayons on wall, dog paws, BBQ, trainers post-festival, flat sharing kitchen & bathroom situations.

Designing for the channel specifically, the campaign strategically leveraged TikTok's #CleanTok trend—a community where cleaning is not just a chore but a source of entertainment and creativity. The assets were designed to have everything needed to maximise the algorithm – vibrant bottle slamming into frame with energy, captions, library uploaded music & all edited in-app.

The assets were both uploaded to brand-owned channels, but the music was also licensed with use for 10 local influencers included per market, to ensure that they reached different audiences, to drive longevity & maximise reach amongst our tribes.

Looking at our target tribes on social – built across robust data from all of our key markets – we used social listening to establish 10 seasonally & market agnostic relatable situations.

Designing for the channel specifically, the campaign strategically leveraged TikTok's #CleanTok trend—a community where cleaning is not just a chore but a source of entertainment and creativity. The assets were designed to have everything needed to maximise the algorithm – vibrant bottle slamming into frame with energy, captions, library uploaded music & all edited in-app. In order to make the re-recording as authentic is possible, the agency production team had to track down the exact right Mac with the right OS system to mix the track.

The assets were both uploaded to brand-owned channels, but the music was also licensed with use for 10 local influencers included per market, to ensure that they reached different audiences, to drive longevity & maximise reach amongst our tribes.

The rights to Satisfaction were bought for a year, to ensure that each market could run the campaign aligning to their seasonal tent-pole moments and run in line with best in class flighting.

The assets were localised with translated captions & adapted bottles per market, to ensure maximum relevance. Depending on recommendation of the local media teams, the assets were either posted on brand handles (if the reach was wide enough), or posted on Tik-Tok as dark ads, targeting audiences based off our tribes interests & passions. Starting in June, the UK went live with assets, followed by France, Germany, The Netherlands, Poland & Brazil.

To drive wider-reach, the videos were also posted through Unilever’s digital initiative – Cleanipedia – in each of their local accounts and across Scrub Daddy, leveraging our North American Partnership.

The Satisfaction campaign exceeded expectations in the short term and over-achieved the homecare benchmarks on our key metrics in the UK, France & Brazil - and significantly outperformed all other assets on Cleanipedia.

Total global views -+300M views & +2M engagement, 22% average ad recall

VTR (benchmark 12%)

France 14% (+2%)

UK 25% (+13%)

Engagement (1.38% benchmark)

Fr 1.73%

UK 2.05%

CPE (benchmark 0.22 euros)

FR 0.10 euros

UK 0.16 euros

CPV (benchmark 0.26 euros)

FR 0.12

UK 0.15

France Brand Lift (Kantar)

+25pt ad recall

+3.7% familiarity

+7.4 attitude

+9.2 brand preference

Brazil Brand Lift (Kantar)

+5% recall

+8% favourite

+3% association

Brand Lift Vs all other Cleanipedia (Unilever Homecare) assets

4x benchmark VTR

2.3x benchmark engagement rate

France:

• 58m views

• 30m unique visitors

• 10k new followers

• 280k likes & interaction

• +1.2M€ incremental sales (+17% vs annual pre-campaign average)