In Sweden AJAX is widely known as a surface cleaning detergent. Being a small and mature market, the majority of all advertising investments are made either instore or in mass media, with generic trans created and dubbed international work.

With a tiny budget (6000€), we were tasked to do something fun that stands out to as many Stockholmers as possible, to bring the brand promise “powerful cleaning” to life in the real world.

Our main objective was to demonstrate the product and increase the understanding of the brand promise. It was also important to achieve a high ad liking – we wanted to make our audience smile.

We had to move quickly, as the city was eager to clean up the subway and put up the new billboards as soon as possible.

Due to our budget, we only had one three-piece series space to work with and therefore only one chance (and only three hours when the train traffic shut down for the night) to do it right. The craft was everything – if we had “cleaned up” the dirt in the wrong way, we would’ve hurt the brand instead of building it. One slip and the piece would be destroyed.  

But with great art direction and craft and with a great detergent product, we managed to clean the billboards to perfection. Using traditional cleaning rhetoric, but in a new context – not talking about it in an ad, but by proving it.

A real life product demo people actually liked, wanted to see and even shared.