Gillette: Outdoor

Credits & Description:

Brand PROCTER & GAMBLE
Entrant MEDIACOM CONNECTIONS TEL AVIV
MEDIACOM CONNECTIONS Tel Aviv, Israel Entrant Company
MEDIACOM CONNECTIONS Tel Aviv, Israel Idea Creation
STERN ARIELY Tel Aviv, Israel Idea Creation
GREY Tel Aviv, Israel Idea Creation
STERN ARIELY Tel Aviv, Israel PR
MEDIACOM CONNECTIONS Tel Aviv, Israel Media Placement
Michal Bar-Tal Stern Ariely Saar Creative concept & project manager
Michal Heller Dor P&G Strategy and Ideation
Liron Schifter P&G Ideation and tactical planning
Gilad Kat Mediacom Strategy, Ideation, communication planning
Shimi Hamias Mediacom Insights, Research, Communication Planning
Yulia Shavelzon Mediacom Tactical planning and Media Buying
Dana Wolfsfeld Mediacom tactical and strategic comms planning
Moti Bukatsin Buldozer Activation and live events
Tal Riven Grey Creative director
Synopsis
Life in Israel’s Orthodox Jewish community is hard. Temperatures averaging over 40 degrees Celsius in the summer make wearing heavy black suits and fur hats every day an uncomfortable experience.
This makes them sweat… profusely.
This is a particular problem on Sabbath – Judaism’s holiest day running from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday. Orthodox Jews are forbidden from doing anything considered work – even using a deodorant.
And that makes Sabbath prayers in packed synagogues a very smelly affair.
What they needed was a powerful deodorant – one with advanced 48-hour protection.
But Gillette wasn’t even considered by the Orthodox community. They favour cheaper and less effective brands.
What’s more - they don’t shave, so would not be familiar with Gillette. Plus, religious restrictions mean they are not exposed to brands in mainstream media.
We needed to identify unique media touchpoints justifying our premium to the Orthodox community.
Strategy
Our strategy was to own the strict Sabbath preparations observed by more than 3 million Jews.
Specifically, we wanted to get Gillette’s deodorant in the community’s hands before the start of the Sabbath service, allowing us to demonstrate how our advanced 48-hour protection could make their prayers more effective.
With approval from Israel’s rabbinical authority we would use Rabbis in the run up to the Sabbath to land our message that worshippers were forbidden to pray in a place with malodour.
Once these revered community leaders had advocated action on personal hygiene, we would be able to dominate Orthodox media channels and physically get Gillette into their hands.
This would include experiential stations outside their place of worship where they could test Gillette, branding the official Sabbath preparation checklists and even, uniquely, taking over the siren that sounds just before Sabbath comes in.
Relevancy
Gillette deodorant is amongst the top brands in Israel. Unless you are an Orthodox Jew.
The Orthodox sector – which makes up 30% of Israel’s population – follows a strict religious lifestyle; they don’t shave and don’t consume mass media. Gillette means little or nothing to them.
We found a message that connected with this unique community and identified new media moments to make it incredibly powerful.
We took a brand that was little known among Orthodox Jews from 3% to a staggering 15% share.
Outcome
Our share in the Orthodox sector grew from a mere 3% to 15% in just two months!
And our overall share grew by 19%!
Post campaign surveys revealed that 72% of the Orthodox community had heard of the “battle of the synagogues” and its results.
We made synagogues a much nicer place to be especially during the summer but most importantly the community’s prayers are much more effective as evidenced by an increase of 63% in the number of Orthodox Jews winning the lottery since the campaign was launched!
Execution
Phase one, we recruited the rabbinical authority to put our message on bulletin boards in synagogues nationwide – the only media channel in the temples.
With malodour now being debated by the community, we launched phase two of our strategy – a side-by-side battle of the synagogues!
One congregation was given Gillette deodorant, the other served as a control; cutting-edge Japanese odometers inside both synagogues measured odour levels.
The Gillette congregation came out on top (4x less odour intensity!) and with word-of-mouth spreading, we launched phase three; domination of Orthodox media channels.
This included:
• The last radio commercial before Sabbath;
• Sponsoring candle lighting schedules in every Orthodox newspaper;
• A fridge magnet listing tasks to be completed before Sabbath, including applying Gillette, inserted into newspapers; and
• The first brand use of street sirens that sound to mark the start of Sabbath, using the iconic Gillette musical sting.
Campaign Description
Our revelation was found in the unlikeliest of places – the bible.
In fact, God warns his followers that praying in an area of foul odour makes your prayer ineffective! The smell distracts your mind and thus interferes with your intentions.
This little-known commandment gave us the opportunity to own the strict Sabbath preparations observed by more than 3 million Jews – something never before done by a brand.
It even enabled us to recruit Judaism’s rabbinical authority – the most influential leaders across the country – getting their consent to raise awareness of the forgotten biblical decree that malodour can affect the effectiveness of prayer.
Our creative idea was to take God’s blessing and tell the Orthodox community how to make prayer time less smelly and more effective.