Zig’s new ads for Unilever’s Vim thick bleach are so universal in appeal that the client has decided to use them in Europe as well. The key to that coup was simplicity of message coupled with a compelling product.
Two TV spots for the new product, ‘Bathroom’ and ‘Kitchen,’ made their debut last month and feature the product being poured on the floor where it sticks. Then the picture shifts and it becomes clear the floor was in fact a wall – thus demonstrating the ‘thick’ properties of the new bleach, which is hailed as a solution to the regular version that can splash and damage other surfaces.
The product is the hero in the spots, says Zig’s Andy Macaulay: ‘It’s advertising, so it needs to have some kind of entertaining way to present that proposition to people. But the entertainment shouldn’t get in the way of the basic qualities of the product.’
According to Unilever’s Gary Wade, brand manager of household cleaning, the target is all users of household cleaners. He says research told Unilever that people already knew what bleach was and how to use it, so communicating the benefits of the new product was paramount. ‘The key objective was to communicate that bleach is now thick…. We wanted to generate trial and awareness. ‘
Wade says the spot also communicates secondary benefits of Vim thick bleach such as the fact that it comes in a smaller bottle with an angled, controllable nozzle.
Client: Unilever
Agency: Zig
Creative Directors: Elspeth Lynn, Lorraine Tao
Copywriter: Aaron Starkman
Art Director: Stephen Leps
Agency Producers: Janet Woods, Amanda Loughran
