Tide’s integrated Super Bowl effort centered on the idea that come stains might actually be worth keeping. A 2-week TV and digital teaser campaign promoted a spoof infomercial product designed to actually save stains, while topical tweets created intrigue around the upcoming Super Bowl spot and hinted at things to come. The commercial itself featured the two teams in the actual game (forcing everything into an ambitious 12-day production schedule), and told an epic story of a man who gets a miracle stain resembling football legend Joe Montana and becomes an instant celebrity. Media and fans flock to his house to witness the stain until his wife “accidentally” washes it out. The twist? She’s a fan of the other team. Online advertisements and social media posts continued the narrative after the game, with everything driving home the theme that “No Stain Is Sacred.”

First, we shot two "Stain Savers" videos promoting the faux Stain Savers product - one long-form advertisement, and a shorter testimonial. We launched the long-form on TV, and began running both versions on YouTube, in Pre-Roll content, and in digital banner ads two weeks before the Super Bowl. Each piece of creative drove users to the "Stain Savers" hub - a site we created where users could 'learn more' about the fake product, and get free samples of a real product (Tide Stain Erasers). All of this content led up to a big 'aha!' moment when our Super Bowl spot aired on game day; if only our hero had used a "Stain Saver," his beloved Joe Montana stain would never have been washed away.

Business results and effectiveness: Increased Tide Facebook fans by 500K. Total campaign impressions were over 300,000,000.