Lysol recently launched a new product called Lysol Laundry Sanitizer. Unlike regular laundry detergents, Lysol Laundry Sanitizer is designed to actually kill germs that live on fabrics when used in the wash. But no one knew what the product was or how to use it. Lysol wanted to promote the product in a way that resonated with their base: parents. Which is why they decided to test its protective abilities on the germiest things in existence: kids’ beloved stuffed animals.

To simultaneously sanitize and protect delicate stuffed animals, Lysol launched Teddy Repair, a program to fix and disinfect teddies while letting kids track their journeys. Families could submit a teddy and designate where it needed fixing via a mobile online experience before mailing it in. Then, those animals were repaired, disinfected with Lysol Laundry Sanitizer, and returned. Because kids have strong attachments to their teddies, Lysol worked with an industrial designer to create custom NFC tracking bracelets that connected to a back-end mobile app, all of which enabled kids to track their teddy’s journey on mobile. Each time the teddy moved to a different step in the repair process, its photo was taken. Then, its bracelet was scanned and the information for both teddy and child was incorporated into a personalized text message. Families received five unique messages and photos updating them on their teddy’s progress while it was away.

In a 2015 study conducted by Reckitt Benckiser in London markets, it was discovered that over 80% of stuffed animals are covered in harmful bacteria, and 20% of them are never washed. We also discovered that many parents - our target audience - are reluctant to wash their children’s bears because their kids don’t want to be separated from them. We created Teddy Repair to help not only safely disinfect these teddies, but also allow children to track them throughout the entire process via a personalized mobile tracker. The tracker helped children have less anxiety about being separated from their teddies, giving us the freedom to perform the rest of the program while knowing the family was at ease.

The program rolled out in two phases: local and national. We tested the mobile experience on a small scale before rolling it out nationally by collecting teddies at three schools in New Jersey. Kids were able to designate what they wanted repaired on their animals, which was then input by a brand ambassador into the back-end app. Over the next week, we tracked 100 unique bears through the Teddy Repair process. After the local phase was complete, the program launched nationally. Parents were given two weeks to submit their child’s teddy using the mobile submission form. After submissions closed, we chose 500 bears and notified parents to mail them in using shipping labels we provided. In the following three weeks, we fixed, sanitized, tracked and returned all 500 bears. Paid media for the program ran nationally on Facebook and Instagram, both on owned channels and via influencer posts.

After the campaign launched, Lysol Laundry Sanitizer sales went up 52% and velocities increased 20% nationwide vs. the same 4-week period of 2018. We Increased website traffic to lysol.com by 21%. Teddy Repair hit its submission capacity within 10 days and surpassed submissions expectations by 35.4%. Key message penetration hit 100%, we generated 111 million impressions in the first two weeks, and created 84% positive sentiment online for the brand.