Ariel; a brand that is a force-for-good and a force-for-growth.

#ShareTheLoad is more than a campaign, it’s a movement for positive-change that began in 2015 with a pertinent question- Is laundry only a woman’s job? Since then, with every edition we stirred conversation around gender-equality by unearthing cultural-truths to nudge men to share housework. With laundry at the centre, we drove the message that anyone can #ShareTheLoad because with Ariel, you get the best results, irrespective of who does the laundry.

But despite continued commitment for over 7 years now, high-inertia of patriarchy makes men continue to turn a deaf-ear to housework.

This time instead of inviting to share load, we needed a hard-hitting provocation to shake men out of their inertia. This case is about how we discovered a new electrifying thought that jolted men to #ShareTheLoad and rewarded the brand with desired equity and sales against competition.

To drive an immediate mindset shift, we coined the term ‘Silent Separation’ - Unequal distribution of chores makes women feel burnt-out overtime, eventually leading to a ‘Silent Separation’, where a couple continue to cohabitate, but are emotionally-distant.

By showing the long-term impact of lack of sharing housework, we made men introspect and realise the cause of the emotional-distance in their marriage. Through this hard-hitting provocation, we nudged them to commit to an equal-marriage and restart as equal partners who #ShareTheLoad.

See the Signs of ‘Silent Separation’ #ShareTheLoad

See the signs of inequality & how that hurts the relationship.

Our target is everyone - Believers of gender-equality at home and those who are ignoring it.

Dug deeper; talked to couples, marriage-counsellors, divorce-lawyers & immersed ourselves into Third-party-Surveys.

Sad irony: The divorce-rate is only 1%, but 65% women feel an emotional-distance from their spouse.

Silent truth:

•81% women feel that unequal distribution of chores has affected their relationship

•78% women feel like withdrawing from the relationship because of unequal sharing of load

Insight: Unequal distribution of chores makes women feel burnt-out, eventually leading to a ‘Silent Separation’ where a couple continues to cohabitate, but are emotionally-distant

Approach: by making men realise that unequal sharing of load is negatively impacting their relationship over time, we aimed to trigger introspections and spark conversations

1.Grab attention and maximise engagement of consumers and media

•Trigger national-level conversation – online & inside homes

•Influence content creators

2.Convert attention into sales and trials

Provocation: In April 2023, we started with a heart-wrenching film that has a father describing to his daughter a strange distance he feels in his marriage. She articulates this as ‘Silent Separation’. The film urges men to ‘see the signs of silent separation’ and #ShareTheLoad to start over.

Confessions: House-helps in Indian households are like family, silently watching intimate happenings. A sharing-session with 100-househelps(maids) revealed the signs they see in lives of couples whose households they work at.

Resolution: To give it an active nudge, we organised a mass vow-renewal, where married men went down on their knees in front of a washing machine and asked their wives if they could start again as equal partners.

We made men evaluate if as a couple they are growing together or apart.

This triggered a national conversation, as influencers and media stepped forward to take our message into homes across the country.

See the signs of ‘Silent Separation’ #ShareTheLoad met all objectives and broke records.

BRAND AND BUSINESS METRICS

•Brand-awareness reached 71%

•At 81% consideration is highest-ever

•Sales grew, reaching 35%, with Liquids business doubling

•18 million new households purchased Ariel

•Repeat-purchase grew to 59%

EMOTIONAL IMPACT METRICS

•Highest-ever equity score at 53%

•Number of men who think that laundry is only a woman’s job is now at 26% vs 79% (2015)

•Equity ownership of ‘Superior Clean’ in washing machine is highest post campaign

•90% couples agreed that doing chores together will improve their relationship

SOCIAL IMPACT METRICS

•Garnered 1.4Bn earned impressions

•Generated PR Value of $3MM+

•Garnered 700+ PR-clips and featured in 1100 publications across 45 countries

•16000+ organic shares on social media in the 1st two weeks of launch

•150MM campaign views across platforms