Israel’s most demanding laundry consumers are the Orthodox Jewish community. Representing 20% of Israel’s population, they appreciate value, for two reasons.

1. The average family has seven children and relies on a single income. They spend carefully, and the youngest kids wear ‘hand me downs’.

2. Their faith commands them to be frugal. Following ‘Al Tashchit’ – which means do not ruin – Orthodox families make clothes last as long as possible.

That’s not great for Orthodox school children.

Their school uniforms are made of dense, non-breathing fabric to ensure modesty. And in such a hot climate (temperatures average 100°F), they sweat a lot.

By the time the youngest child gets her ‘hand me down’ uniform, it really needs replacing.

IDEA: We’d wash school uniforms to show families how Ariel’s ‘Clean Like New’ formula could save them money, make their clothes last longer, and turn ‘hand me downs’ into ‘hand me ups’.

We formed a unique, first-ever partnership with more than 150 Orthodox schools for girls, giving Ariel access to a non-branded environment.

Prior to summer vacation, we invited students to place their used/non-fitting uniforms in our designated laundry baskets.

We washed over 30,000 uniforms with Ariel, and when the new school year started, we packaged them up and let students pick up a ‘new’ shirt.

They were shocked to learn their ‘new’ shirt had been worn before. We provided ‘clean like new’ clothes to 43% of the students, and secured national PR coverage.

We documented the entire process to give us authentic proof of our claims and fuel our paid distribution strategy.

We shared our videos beyond the Orthodox community, via video and social media channels.

These messages were targeted at women aged 25-54 ensuring that the recommendation and value promise of Ariel was seen by all main FMCG shoppers.

We showed Israel the true cost of skimping on laundry products.

Our dramatic experiment (and the content we created) led to mass behaviour change, boosting Ariel market share to record levels.

40% of the population were aware of the activity.

Purchase intent was significantly higher among consumers aware of the activity.

And the best bit? Market share hit record levels in the Orthodox sector – up 24% – and grew nationally by 11%.

P&G plans to run the activity again in 2017.

This time, we’ll add hundreds more schools – including secular schools.