After the success of 2018’s Super Bowl “It’s a Tide Ad” campaign, our client asked us to become the most loved brand during the NFL season and leverage the momentum of #TideAd, giving the hashtag a second life. Pointing out clean during the entire NFL season would reinforce the idea that “If it’s clean, it’s got to be Tide.”

During the Super Bowl, we pointed out that wherever you see clean clothes, it’s a Tide Ad. We decided to keep the momentum going by again pointing out clean clothes, this time during the entire 2018 NFL season.

We partnered with the NFL and FOX Sports to seamlessly integrate our branded content into live game broadcasts. Whenever viewers saw a highlight, a penalty call, a play review or an interview, they had to ask themselves, “Is this an NFL game or a Tide ad?”

As our audience took the bait, they turned to Twitter, so that 1 in 5 tweets during Thursday Night Football featured #TideAd.

Tide is America’s number 1 detergent with over 40% HH penetration. This means that whenever you see clean clothes, it’s probably thanks to Tide. The problem is that unlike stains, cleanliness is not something you notice until pointed out. So we decided to point to clean clothes across different aspects of the NFL broadcast.

Not only does the NFL have more fans than any sport in the US, they also have the most passionate fan base. 40% of all fans considering themselves to be avid fans. As a result of this passion, the NFL is deeply embedded in culture and dominates the social feeds of the average person every day of the week. We infiltrated people’s feeds with different types of creative tailored to the NFL content people consumed, appropriate to the platform they consumed it on and coming from the people that they want to most hear from.

The campaign aired throughout the 2018 NFL season reaching 274MM people on TV and gaining 93MM impressions online, with new executions tailor-made to the teams playing and to each audience. Big game highlights and recaps were infiltrated by pre-roll and stories that blurred the line of reality and advertising. Influencers fueled the conversation with their own takes on Tide ads. Filters and stickers were promoted to inspire user-generated content and sharing. We hijacked the real time conversation with both pre-planned content and real time engagements with fans and brands. Each facet of the NFL social experience was hacked through a deep understanding of context and user behavior.

Oct. 11, Eagles at Giants (FOX/NFL Network)

Oct. 18, Broncos at Cardinals (FOX/NFL Network)

Oct. 25, Dolphins at Texans (FOX/NFL Network)

Nov. 1, Raiders at 49ers (FOX/NFL Network)

Nov. 8, Panthers at Steelers (FOX/NFL Network)

Nov. 15, Packers at Seahawks (FOX/NFL Network)

These are the results of the campaign:

274 MM impressions delivered

23 integrations that reached 39% of all TV households over the campaign

Through strategically planned adbuy, Tide’s delivery was 4.7% higher vs. game-average ratings

We reignited #TideAd, increasing usage of #TideAd by +1389%

We achieved the highest share rate ever in Tide’s social history

We owned 24% of the Thursday Night Football conversation, beating out the biggest brands across sports, beverages, automotive, QSR and telecom