Understanding

Indian culture was hugely patriarchal, and washing was simply something that women did in more than 95% of households.

But while women were bored with new detergents and brand messages, men were a whole new audience.

Our best weapon in the detergent war was to ask a simple question: “Why couldn’t a man do the washing?”

Solution

We flipped the detergent marketing model on its head. Instead of talking to women about detergent, we would tell their other halves how to do the laundry.

We partnered up with washing machine manufacturers and even clothing labels to build the conversation.

Ariel Matic became India’s first His ‘n’ Hers washing powder.

Execution

We kick-started our debate with unique survey, revealing that 85% of Indian women felt that they had two jobs – one at work and the other at home.

We asked prominent clothing brands – American Crew, Shoppers Stop and designer Masaba Gupta – to get involved and create new clothing tags that read: “This fabric can be washed by both men and women.”

On social, we asked men to show their commitment via a ‘Wash bucket challenge’, challenging them to post selfies of them doing the laundry and commit to #sharetheload.

Results

Sales grew by 75% year on year, double our target.

More than 2 million Indian men pledged to do the laundry.

We generated earned media worth $11million with two billion free impressions

Consumer engagement with Ariel increased 4.6 times – the highest ever.

#ShareTheLoad trended No. 1 on International women’s day.

Awards and Recognition

• Festival of Media Global | Gold 216: Best Communications Strategy
• Festival of Media Global | Gold 2016: Best Engagement Strategy
• Festival of Media Global | Bronze 2016: The Effectiveness Award
• Festival of Media APAC | Gold 2016: The Effectiveness Award
• Festival of Media APAC | Silver 2016: Best Communications Strategy
• Festival of Media APAC | Bronze 2016: Best Launch Campaign
• Cannes Lions 2016: (Co-Credit) Cannes Glass Lion
• M&M Global Awards 2016: Best Use of Content
• M&M Global Awards 2016: B2C Campaign of the Year
• M&M Global Awards 2016: Best Multiplatform Campaign
• M&M Global Awards 2016: The International Effectiveness Award