The campaign came to life across multiple channels to reach the widest audience and extend a deeper understanding about autism. Broadcast formed our big awareness pieces. Our interactive ‘clothes-stories’ exhibition at the gallery@oxo shared intimate and powerful clothes stories of autistic girls and non-binary people. Our social campaign and educational website hubs promoted stories and quotes from the wider autistic community which inspired wider discourse. In response, the community voiced their personal stories organically online. We also partnered with ASDA in an in-store activation which underpinned our commitment via donations alongside every product purchase.

Vanish penetration has been in decline since 2018 (-102bps). As a premium priced additive, the brand is losing relevance and wallet share, most consumers (70%) still see the brand as a straightforward stain remover only. In fact, in 2021 Vanish reformulated to offer multiple garment care benefits, however awareness of this remains low (46%). Furthermore, as a discretionary laundry additive, Vanish is fighting for relevance against detergents which are increasingly claiming many of the same benefits.

In a category saturated by performance messaging, we needed to move beyond the purely functional and connect with our consumers. We needed a fresh perspective in order to shift perceptions of our product proposition and to drive relevance and usage. We aimed to achieve this via our purpose-led proposition of ‘making clothes live longer’.

For World Autism Acceptance Week, we focused on the gender gap in diagnoses. Our campaign was devised to promote public understanding and conversation around autistic girls: celebrating them and their ‘clothes stories’.

‘Me, My Autism & I’ shattered the misconception that autism primarily impacts boys by specifically heroing many autistic female voices across our campaign. In positive and honest portrayals we shared personal stories, and insights into daily struggles in their own words to help all autistic girls feel seen, heard and supported.

Our evocative film told the story of Ash, a fifteen year old girl, and the visceral importance of her hoodie in her life. This story was supported by many others across an exhibition, social campaign, and online hub (featuring articles written by community and experts). Vanish donated 25p per pack in ASDA stores to support improving pathways to diagnosis for all.

To build relevance for our clothes-longevity proposition, we needed to encourage people to wear their clothes for longer. We identified an emotive truth about our relationship with clothing: we wear certain garments over and over again.

This is even more true of autistic people: 92% of autistic people have sensory sensitivity, 73% use familiar items of clothing to help regulate their senses and navigate the world. For this community, making clothes live longer really matters.

Our mission was to broaden public understanding of autism, empower this community and ensure brand relevance.

We conducted surveys amongst Ambitious about Autism’s network of young autistic people and their families (+2,000 responses), the community revealed that autism is misunderstood to be boy’s condition only, which contributes to the fact that girls are three times less likely to receive a diagnosis than boys. We therefore shaped our campaign to celebrate autistic girls.

We platformed autistic voices across film, real world activation, social campaigns, and an online hub.

Director Tom Hooper created a beautifully cinematic yet accessible hero film telling Ash’s story and the visceral importance of her hoodie. From casting a magnetic lead alongside her real family to directing a gripping score.

Our exhibition at the gallery@oxo shared intimate and powerful stories that explored how familiar and consistent clothing can help autistic girls thrive.

In partnership with Channel 4’s 4Studio our empowering digital film celebrated stories about how significant items in autistic people’s lives helped them realise their best selves.

The campaign hub housed opinion pieces from autistic youth covering topics like the LGBTQ+ and POC autistic experience. As well as the gender gap within diagnosis, autism within education and advice for families.

And the sharing continued across social platforming clothes stories from Ambitious about Autism’s Youth Network and autistic influencers.

66x pieces of coverage

3.8b reach

+60m impressions on Twitter of 'Vanish' and 'autism' of which 88% were positive

TikTok virality = +5m views

+190% new visitors on Ambitious About Autism website since launch

+2,000% increase in engagement on Vanish landing page (vs previous period based on average daily visit numbers).

82% score ad a 5 or 4 star rating (vs. the norm of 70% tested by 4Youth since Jan 2022).

79% feel more informed about the lived experience of autism since watching advert

68% had a positive perception of Vanish after watching the ad (vs. the norm of 60%)

53% say they will do more research into how Vanish is supporting this cause after watching the ad. (Channel 4 "Mirror On" report)

74% value sales uplift vs. previous promotional period

Vanish share of stain +2% during campaign period

Vanish is providing a total category uplift during the promotional period

Within a day of the film’s launch, it went viral on TikTok racking up 3.4 million views and counting.

There was an overwhelmingly positive response both from autistic people and their networks as well as the general public on social media, with headlines such as "Channel 4's Vanish autism awareness advert has left viewers in tears as it gets rave reviews" (Daily Record).

A broad range of conversations started to emerge, with many writing in-depth personal accounts of their own experiences, on topics including diagnosis, stimming, family dynamics, school uniform and autism accommodation.

The film was shared across closed autism support groups across Facebook, Mumsnet and has started to be adopted into workplaces and schools, the latter requesting permission to share in some instances. It was also shared by Policy makers such as MP Doug Beattie, political journalists such as Jon Snow and Suzanne Breen and mainstream celebrities.