Reckitt’s Dettol was very popular in the Covid era, and now McCann London has been tasked with finding new ways to sell the product without the help of a global pandemic to boost sales.
The answer is this new “spread the love, not the germs” campaign, which promotes Dettol as an enabler of normal family life. It shows a typically busy, messy, germy family home where a dad is constantly cleaning up after his children, using spray and a cloth rather than environmentally-unfriendly Dettol wipes.
McCann have also brokered a tie-up deal with Gogglebox, where people from the show watch the ad and give entirely enthusiastic, positive feedback. TV home expert Sarah Beeny is also on board with a line of key germ-spreading offenders, like a remote control and a mobile phone, all made out of anti-bacterial copper.
David Shillcock, marketing director at Reckitt, said: “A significant step-change for our Dettol brand, it’s a celebration of the germy, messy, fun-filled lives of our consumers. This platform not only captures the essence of Dettol’s mission to keep families healthy, happy, and thriving, but also resonates with consumers on a personal level, reminding them that, Dettol empowers us to keep on doing all the things we love to do, with the people we love.”
Matt Crabtree, creative director at McCann London, said: “Germ don’t spread germs… People do. We’ve created a campaign that celebrates our loved ones’ germy behaviours but not in a finger pointing way. At the heart of the campaign is the shift from the functional aspect of Dettol as a germ-kill brand, to a brand that is much more focused on the everyday human behaviours that can contribute to germs spreading; a more emotional and relatable territory.”
The campaign is running in the UK, Europe, Israel, Australia and New Zealand.
MAA creative scale: 5
