The dishwasher detergent category has been the same for decades: grease and stain, clean and shine. It was like a war over whose formula is the most improved one. But today, the world has a lot on its plate. There are things more serious than grease stains, like water stress: three quarters of the earth is water, but the usable amount is only 0.00006. According to the UN, by 2050 droughts may affect over three-quarters of the world’s population.

Yet, people waste litres of water on a needless behavior. They rinse their dishes before placing them into the dishwasher. Behind this routine, there is a misconception: If they don’t pre-rinse, the dishes won’t be clean.

So, Finish concentrated its efforts on changing peoples’ dishwashing behavior with a worldwide campaign. Because with today’s superior detergents there is no need to pre-rinse. And when you skip the rinse, you save 57 liters of water.

Our objective was to create a campaign that reveals water situation, leads to water preservation, changes the consumer's behavior by influencing them with the product’s superiority and increases the preference rate of the brand.

The journey started in Turkey, because of its world record dishwasher penetration. It is 90% (globally 20%). And the business was struggling in Turkey. Finish had lost market leadership; 3 year compounded revenue growth was around -3 / -5%. There was fierce competition and P&G had taken the lead on penetration, equity and share.

Our purpose journey started with research. First, we asked consumers how they wash their dishes and they said “in the dishwasher”. Then we built a real kitchen with dirty dishes and asked them to wash it. Half of them put the dishes under running water before placing them into the dishwasher. Wasting 57 litres of water in every wash. The daily amount of water spent by pre rinsing in Turkey was over 130 million tons which makes a medium-sized lake.

Based on this data, we repositioned our detergent as an enabler of water preservation and our brand as a spokesperson of the water issue. We started a movement called “Skip the rinse”. We localized the campaign in 19 countries with innovative solutions like bringing dead lake back in Turkey or helping farmers in Australia to cope with drought.

The campaign started in Turkey because of its unique situation. Turkey is the number one country in dishwasher penetration rate: 90%. This rate is 20% globally.

It started in Turkey, localized in 19 countries, and made a huge impact for the world. The amount of water saved by stopping pre-rinsing is 195 billion liters of water. This is bigger than the 5 mid-sized lakes.

This campaign was supported by these local, unconventional projects: To create awareness, an economic forum was hacked in Turkey with drinking glasses that showed the remaining water capacity in lakes. With National Geographic, two docu-dramas were made and one of them was aired in 12 countries. In the USA, Turkey and UAE millions were convinced to pledge to save water. In Turkey, minarets and fountains were turned into a medium. In Australia, Finish helped farmers to cope with drought. In Italy, a cause was started to save olive trees. In a display of collaborative action, a water index was created which showed the usable amount of water and was updated regularly, like a true market index. And to instill a sense of optimism and hope, we even brought a lake back from the dead.

315 million people were reached in 19 countries. 195 billion liters of water were saved.

Increase in penetration:

265 bps increase in Germany

520 bps increase in Australia

80 bps increase in France

240 bps increase in UK

Increase in market share:

30 BPS increase in Turkey

211 BPS increase in Spain

60 BPS increase in France

406 BPS increase in UK

194 BPS increase in US

99 BPS increase in Portugal

66 BPS increase in Greece

Increase in sales:

33% increase in US

7% increase in Middle East

41.5% increase in Turkey

Increase in conversation:

70% increase in “save water” searches in US

6,000% increase in conversation water scarcity in Turkey

Pre-rinse change behavior was decreased dramatically:

In USA from 68% to 56%

In Turkey from 70% to 54%

In UK from 45% to 33%

In France from 38% to 28%

In Australia from 55% to 42%