We started with a pre-launch phase before the official start of advertising and reached our LOHAS target group with short 10” TV specials: “Surprising water facts” spots from daily life (e.g. “Did you know that you consumed ca. 160 litres of water yesterday?”). Placed within “Sat.1 breakfast TV,” we reached her when starting her daily routine by showering or washing. Once the awareness for water as a scarce resource had been sharpened, we invited the target to share her own water saving tips, and become a “water saving hero”, with incentive prizes amounting to 20.000€. Online, a continuous education platform for water saving was launched in cooperation with a major TV station. And 90” editorial formats ran with local German stars, educating with “surprising water saving opportunities”. After the pre-campaign, we started mainstream TV ads, featuring Ariel as a brand that helps consumers take a small step for the environment.

This “water saving knowledge” campaign fully delivered against objectives. It drove Ariel’s unique positioning as sustainable brand (+108%) and as a detergent which can save water (+271%). In the first 2 weeks alone, over 5,000 consumers sent their water saving tips.

Consequently and more important was the business success behind this sustainability strategy. In September 2008, Ariel took over market leadership in volume from long-time German market leader Persil (+3.4ppts ahead of Persil) for the FIRST time in the 40 years history and also achieved a record value share (+3.9ppts vs. PP and +5.8ppts vs. YA).