Tide, as the leader in the category, is always looking for ways to ensure the laundry process is the best it can be from product superiority to even the environment. When Tide discovered that 90% of the energy in the laundry process can be eliminated if people didn’t use hot water, we knew we needed to do something about it. Only problem was our audience had no idea. So we set out on a mission to let America know they should turn to cold.

Our challenge was not only to make people aware, but actually drive the behavior change, which is no easy feat. With that, our main objectives were to get people to turn to cold and ultimately buy Tide for the best results in cold.

We wanted our work to connect with the more than 50% of Americans who weren’t washing their clothes on cold. While these people were aware of some of the benefits of cold water washing, most people believed that hot water was necessary for cleaning. So we needed to educate them that washing in cold was not only better for the environment because it could save 90% of the energy, but Tide was formulated to work well on cold.

This was no easy feat, because only 8.6% of consumers knew that energy savings, which ultimately helps the environment, was a reason to switch to cold. We also had to break through in the crowded environmental marketing space and in the low involvement category that is detergent.

We knew though if done right, we could make a huge impact since on average 73MM+ loads of laundry are done every day.

Tide set out on a mission to convince everyone to make the switch to cold water under one big umbrella #TurnToCold. We brought together “cold” pop culture icons “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, one of America’s best known professional wrestlers, and Ice-T, an actor best known for Law & Order: SVU to convince celebrities like Vanilla Ice, Mr. T, Annie Murphy and Gordon Ramsay to turn to cold. Then to prove Tide’s superior performance in cold water, we called the NFL and convinced 15 teams— and all of their fans—to wash in cold. We hit multiple pop culture verticals, from music to entertainment to sports to get everyone to #TurnToCold.

Everyone does laundry, and as America’s #1 laundry detergent, we have the right to speak to all of them. We wanted our work to connect with the more than 50% of Americans who weren’t washing their clothes on cold.

We recognized that our diverse target audience would be motivated to turn to cold by different messages, so we used these different reasons to believe to convince them, including that it’s better for the environment, they could save money on their energy bill, and that Tide cleans better in cold than the bargain brand in hot.

By tapping into different RTBs, celebrities, and athletes they trust and respect, but under the same #TurnToCold umbrella, we knew we could convince skeptics.

Starting in March 2021, Tide brought together "cold" pop culture icons, wrestler “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and actor Ice-T, to make "cold calls" to convince celebrities like Vanilla Ice, Mr. T, Annie Murphy and Gordon Ramsay to #TurnToCold and ultimately educated everyone on the benefits of washing in cold in a sticky and memorable way. Then to prove Tide’s superior performance in cold water, we partnered with the NFL in September and convinced 15 teams— and all of their fans—to wash in cold. The #TurnToCold content expanded across broadcast, OTT, and online. The talent posted on social media, extending the reach of #TurntoCold and getting consumers to participate via sweepstakes by pledging to turn to cold. We also had radio, additional social from Tide, and Tide even turned its logo blue across owned platforms to get people’s attention and realize we were serious about our message.

In the first 10 months of the campaign we saw incredible results:

Over 1.3 billion new loads done in cold. That results in over 1 billion kilograms of CO2 saved. That’s like taking almost 400,000 cars off the road for an entire year.

Consumers became advocates of Tide and #TurnToCold which helps us reach even more people with over 1.4 billion organic social impressions and over 2 billion earned media impressions.

Tide moved off the shelf with a +39% sales lift of Tide Hygienic Clean, the product featured in the work. This made Tide Hygienic Clean alone bigger than three of our competitors’ entire brands.