Mouthwashes are key for a complete oral hygiene, however, they are considered a non-essential product. That rings especially true to young consumers: more than half of people aged 18 to 24 don't use the product.

The category struggles to establish its cultural relevance and connect with young adults due to ads that focus too much on functional aspects of the product with a clinical approach that doesn't resonate.

In other words, the new generation of potential consumers just doesn't care about such a boring category.

That was not different for Listerine. Its communication became more traditional over time, creating an invisible barrier with this audience.

To overcome this challenge, we had to create a meaningful connection with young adults to address the importance of proper oral health.

So, our objectives were:

#1: GENERATING AWARENESS AND ENGAGEMENT

#2: CREATING AN UNIQUE BRAND EXPERIENCE THAT DROVE BEHAVIOR CHANGE

#3: INCREASING E-COMMERCE REVENUE

To really connect with the young audience, we set out to be game changers: we delivered Listerine’s message by messing with something they really care about: their avatars.

We created the BREATHCALYPSE.

Listerine changed the dynamics of the gameplay of Brazil’s biggest virtual city – Complexo City – and one day everyone woke up with a bad breath. It was an unique and collective experience that affected playability, causing foggy vision, low blood pressure, and tremors.

The solution? Finding Listerine around town.

More than advertising, we leveled up the game experience to dramatize the effect that poor oral health has on people’s daily lives. We created a complete experience that allowed players to feel in their own skins – or avatars – how important oral health is.

Without realizing it, millions of people learned about oral health and actually had fun doing so, for 30 days living in the Breathcalypse.

Germs, plaques, gingivitis.There was no boldness or an innovative strategy to give more relevance to the product.

Immersive experience and dramatization were essential to speak the language of the people instead of the dentist, showing them very didactically how terrifying a bad breath can be.

But we had to do it in a way that is true to Liserine’s DNA: going beyond any limit that reality imposes.

In this scenario, gaming emerged as the perfect unprecedented brand territory to generate connection with people without losing spontaneity. Afterall, it was important to the target audience and it provided us endless possibilities to overcome the dullness of the category in a didactic and ludic way.

To help spread this innovative brand experience, we used a force of gaming culture: livestreams.

Ultimately, watching gameplays and engaging with streamers is just as important as playing the game itself.

To really embrace and respect gaming culture, the collaboration between Listerine and content creators was the core of Breathcalypse to create an unique experience.

So, we transformed our strategy in a gameplay with 02 levels:

LEVEL #01: ENTERING THE GAME COMMUNITY

We partnered with a squad of streamers and influencers, that broadcasted and shared about Breathcalypse to

major content game platforms.

LEVEL #02: BELONGING TO THE GAME COMMUNITY

We encouraged all types of gamers, from influencers to genuine players, to broadcast their gameplays and join an active community creating an organic success.

During Listerine's 30-day period on Complexo, a diverse range of content creators streamed Breathcalypse spontaneously on their platforms, including small players and big gaming influencers like Nobru, the biggest one in Brazil with over 50 million followers.

Listerine didn’t simply insert itself in the metaverse: we created an unique brand experience by turning the gameplay into media.

Breathcalypse was Listerine’s way of overcoming the category's dullness in order to connect with young people and take part in gaming culture, while teaching about proper oral hygiene without them even realizing.

The results? Apocalyptic.

#1: GENERATING AWARENESS AND ENGAGEMENT

170.000 LISTERINES USED in the game, with this much product, a person could spend 5900 years swishing Listerine twice a day.

405.000 MINUTES streamed with brand presence, which is 2088 times the Titanic's running time.

800+ SPONTANEOUS LIVES about the action and more than +50 MILLION TOTAL VIEWS.

This viewpocalypse resulted in a total of 5 MILLION IN EARNED MEDIA.

#2: CREATING AN UNIQUE BRAND EXPERIENCE THAT DROVE BEHAVIOR CHANGE

Our recommendation grew MORE THAN 5X the goal set for the campaign.

#3: INCREASING E-COMMERCE REVENUE

People really did take Listerine off the screens: we had 340% MORE ONLINE BRAND STORE SALES in real life.