Episode 65 - Degree Ad Reviewed by Reckitt, Merrick Pet Care and PepsiCo
This week on #AdvertisersWatchingAds we review the latest from Degree and Unilever, looking at movement for all bodies and #BreakingLimits. As usual, the ad was chosen by our partners Contagious.
Is the #ad relatable to all of us and does it get you #motivated to break limits? Has the #brand made a real impact and do they get their message across well enough?
And could they have done more to balance #brand and #purpose?
Listen to what our guests Olga Rubanovskaya (Marketing Director for Reckitt - Hygiene in Israel), Barbara Liss (Vice President of Marketing, Merrick Pet Care), and Arnaud Fronty (Global Marketing Brand Manager, PepsiCo) thought about it in the full video.
Transcription
The following is an automated transcript of the file, which is not 100% accurate but will give you a good idea of what was discussed.
Tom Ollerton 0:06
Hello, and welcome to Advertisers Watching Ads. My name is Tom Ollerton. I'm the founder of Automated Creative, and this is a weekly show where brands watch other brands' ads discuss what they like about it or not. We are brought to you each week by Contagious, our partner, who has sourced the ads for us. So thanks, to those guys. Go to contagious.com to find out more about that brilliant business. So, before we get to this week's ad, let's meet this week's guests.
Olga Rubanovskaya 0:33
Hi, everyone. I'm Olga Rubanovskaya. I'm the Marketing Director for Reckitt - Hygiene in Israel.
Barbara Liss 0:39
Hi, I'm Barbara Liss. I'm the Vice President of Marketing for Merrick Pet Care based in Chicago.
Arnaud Fronty 0:45
Hi, Arnaud Fronty. I'm a Global Marketing Brand Manager in PepsiCo, based in between France and New York.
Tom Ollerton 0:54
Yes, we got France, Chicago, and Israel today. And it's very, very early in the morning for some of our guests. So, thank you for making such a huge effort. Right, let's see the ad.
Barbara, it may be 6am in Chicago, but what was your reaction to the ad when you saw it?
Barbara Liss 2:10
I think the ad is really, it's, it's eye catching. I think it's disruptive. I think there's really strong music. You're curious from the beginning. I liked it. I mean, it catches your, it catches your attention. It, it touches you and you're intrigued from the beginning.
Arnaud Fronty 2:28
At the beginning, you don't, you don't clearly understand what's going on. And at some point, you understand, "Okay, this is this is a purpose driven communication." And I was actually, I was actually surprised because usually these, these type of ads are focused on one minority, one thing. And when you're not part of the minority, you could not totally relate. On this one, you can actually relate and say, "Okay, these guys are doing it. I can move my body and go to the gym or do whatever." So, it was it was actually a pretty, yeah, well built ad for everyone, the whole target.
Olga Rubanovskaya 3:04
I agree. I found it very motivational and very exciting. It was very engaging, I really wanted to keep watching until the end. And I agree with Arnaud, you know, like the inside is so right. And it's relevant to everyone, not just for disabled people or not just for anybody else, it's for all of us. I guess disabled people just suffer from this more, but I'm sure those of people who feel a bit out of shape or a bit, not like they want to see their body and then they, that prevents them from moving, working out. The only thing that I saw, I thought to myself at the end is the whole thing about branding, because I actually didn't see any branding upfront. So, the only moment that I saw the brand was in the end and yes, you know, like the "V" a highly recognizable "V". But then I always asked myself if I see it as a marketer, so I know brands much more, I recognized logos. But this one specifically for me, left me with a question mark about the balance between purpose and branding. Because I strongly believe that purpose is important, but it has to drive the brand.
Barbara Liss 4:07
I agree that the branding probably could have been stronger and it's certainly a fine balance when you're trying to be message-driven. We as marketers are like, oh, but we don't want to seem totally self-serving. And so that is the trick I think when you're doing marketing like this is how do I... At the end of the day is a business and we're trying to drive branding and profit but that's a really fine line. But at least I felt that their purpose is incredibly driven or tied very tightly to what the product is. Oftentimes companies find a purpose like... You have to move you sweat you get out there but so I thought the connection was, was there and as a brand that probably has a high awareness within their target. I think they can get away with it, but I agree with you, Olga, if you don't know it. The other thing that I really liked that you mentioned that people can see themselves in this, it's not just... If you're moving or dancing or going to the gym, but candidly, for a minute I went, "Do I judge?" Well, I look at somebody who is maybe different than, than I am. And could this ad cause me not to do that. I'm certainly not perfect. And so I thought in that instance, like, it's really powerful if they can achieve both of those things to motivate people, as well as to get people to stop and think how they treat others.
Arnaud Fronty 5:40
I think, if we if we can say that this had and probably it's also Unilever behind it, with Dove, with all the other brands that they activate in the same way. The other way to do two ads at the same time, one more equity-driven and one more product-driven, which works as you said, Olga. This works as a whole campaign. When you look only at this ad, that would be like you guys, I would say, "Okay, this is amazing, I get the purpose, but you're probably missing a lot of branding, even a product." Because I'm not sure the purpose intent would be high about that. But it's a whole, it's a whole system, its ecosystem. And we know I don't know if you've seen but they launched an actual roll, roll-on packaging, made and co-created with handicapped people. The big, what we call "big brand idea" is basically movement is a human right, and you should not, you know, be, you should be allowed to, to have this right and use it. And they're just trying to show the different barriers to this, right. Sometimes, it's more self-doubt, sometimes it's more, I don't know, society. Could even be COVID at some point, you know, gym being closed and everything. But here, it's also like judgments and potentially also like physical issues. But no, this is not a barrier, you're breaking through it. And Rexona is helping you do that. It's kind of like your it's uplifting you to this.
Olga Rubanovskaya 7:06
This is where insight comes in, you know, so handy because one, it's a universal consumer insights that works for almost everyone, if not everyone. The execution is specifically focused on disabled people, but it's really universal consumer insight, then it's much easier for target audience to engage and make it much more believable. And for me, just to say what Barbara mentioned before that maybe you judge, you know what, maybe you can be on either end of this equation, you can be the one who feels judged, maybe you're sometimes the judge as well. Just raising the awareness of this, for me, that's what it does it. To self-check myself, and also to feel more confident, you know, like that. If I don't perform well in the gym, nobody's judging me, I'm there, that's already good.
Barbara Liss 7:48
I do think the fact that they put that out there lends a ton of credibility to this. And it does make you stop and think that it's not just actors, and they're not just trying to be sexy and tug at your heartstrings like that's, it made it more real to me to see that.
Olga Rubanovskaya 8:04
Maybe not in this specific ad. But like in the future, maybe some sort of aspiration or vision of where we want to get to, you know, like through this movement, not just to enable, because if you build you know, with the set on stadiums or in sports facilities, some people can make it but how do you make it actually accessible to everyone. You know, like, if you could, like start a movement and say, "Let's fight it together." You know, like, let's fight, you know, the judgment, the stereotypes on the one hand, and let's enable more people on the other hand. And let's go from 46 to 30%. You know, like, it's not a zero, you know, for me, that would be like a very aspirational way to evolve the campaign as well.
Arnaud Fronty 8:43
What I like also is that they didn't use and we've seen that in Degree and Rexona has done it. They use athletes that go to the Olympics or whatever tournaments. This time, it was, yeah, it was people doing their own stuff, their passion every day. It was more real. So, in a way, it was less about using this issue to bring a point about judgment in the gym and all. I think it was more genuine and more linked to, yeah, whatever is out there in this society. I didn't feel bad about, you know, greenwashing, or probably how to call it, a washing something on the Unilever side. Yeah, that sense.
Tom Ollerton 9:24
So, guys, we, unfortunately are at the end of the episodes, but what I'm going to do is I'm going to count to three, and on a count of three, I want to vote with your fingers how good you think this ad is. So, one, two, three... So, a five and two fours. That is a high scoring ad for Unilever. Congrats, guys. Olga, Barbara, Arnaud, thank you so much for being our guests this week.
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