Surf, a small player in the highly competitive UK laundry market, had decided to sponsor ‘The Only Way Is Essex’, a lowbrow reality TV show.

• Joey Essex – research revealed that a gorgeous, slightly dim chap obsessed with looking and smelling ‘reem’ (dreamy) - was the most influential and newsworthy character

• There was a TOWIE summer special in Marbella and we knew returning from holiday triggers two actions – washing and wishing you were still there

• So our strategy was to create ‘Surf Summer D’Reem’ - a limited edition piece of NPD that ‘bottles the fragrance of summer holidays’ – created by Joey Essex and sold in store

We created a compelling back story;

• The set up – Fresh from holidays, Joey tweeted how he loved the summer holiday smells

• The teaser - Joey was papped wearing a bandage to protect his sense of smell. Rumours of a nose job generated tabloid gossip

• The launch – Launched at a lido with photographs of Joey in Surf branded swimwear

• The film – Seeded a ‘behind the scenes’ video online

• News hijack – Joey Tweeted on the ground-breaking discovery of the Higgs Boson particle alongside David Cameron

Our campaign created an additional revenue stream worth £1.2m and generated a campaign profit of £3.8m. Our campaign had a halo effect on the rest of the Surf brand increasing penetration and boosting frequency by 24%.

Drive awareness, talkability and trial. Convince low income consumers that Surf provides better fragrances and drive sales through:

• Coverage in the target audience’s media – minimum 30 pieces (<70% containing key message/visual)

• Widespread social media conversation

• Get product into consumers’ hands

We had to do something different to get people talking about the TV sponsorship. With no talent rights and only animated idents as assets, landing the “superior fragrance” messaging with Mums was going to be tricky. But, when the storyline saw the cast head to Marbella on their summer holidays, we spotted a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

We created an additional revenue stream worth £1.2m and generated a campaign profit of £3.8m. Our campaign had a halo effect on the rest of the Surf brand – increasing penetration and boosting frequency by 24%:

• 62% of respondents said the campaign told them something new about Surf and 56% wanted to find out more (well above industry norms)

Coverage

• 212 pieces of coverage - 82% in Lisa’s target media

• 77% delivered at least 1 key message

Widespread social media conversation

• Joey’s tweets (including key messages) generated 1,609 tweets reaching 4,315,666 people

Product in consumers’ hands

• 430,869,970 people have seen or heard about the campaign

• We got the product onto the shelves of three out of four major UK supermarkets, one of them sold out in 10 days

• In just three months, we sold over 400,000 bottles of detergent

We created a compelling back story;

• Set up – Fresh from holidays, Joey tweeted how he loved the summer holiday smells and wished they could last

• Teaser - Joey was papped in a ‘Surf lab' wearing a bandage to protect his sense of smell. Rumours of a nose job generated tabloid gossip

• Product - Designed new packaging to support product launch

• Launch – Launched the new product at a lido, photographs of Joey in Surf branded swimwear

• Film – Created ‘behind the scenes’ video and seeded it online. Used as a Facebook trailer whilst waiting for branded games to download

• The waiting list – A waiting list with ASDA, enabling TOWIE fans to get the product first

• News hijack – Joey Tweeted on the ground-breaking discovery of the Higgs Boson particle. Quote was published alongside that of David Cameron’s in two national newspapers

Surf is a small player in the competitive UK laundry market where consumers are driven by promotions and brands struggle to stand out. Surf had decided to sponsor ‘The Only Way Is Essex’, a lowbrow reality TV show.

Proprietary research helped us build a picture of Surf’s target consumer; Lisa. She spends hours getting ready for a night out and LOVES gossiping with her friends about celebrities. When at home, she watches TV or is on Facebook, Twitter and chat rooms talking to friends. She reads celebrity magazines looks forward to her annual family holiday to the Costa Del Sol.

We needed a dynamic communications platform to give the brand identity, resonate with ’Lisa’ and get UK media excited about laundry;

• Research told us Joey Essex was the most influential and newsworthy character. Joey is a gorgeous, slightly dim chap obsessed with looking and smelling ‘reem’ (dreamy)

• There was a TOWIE summer special in Marbella and we knew returning from holiday triggers two actions – washing and wishing you were still there

So our strategy was to create ‘Surf Summer D’Reem’ - a limited edition piece of NPD that ‘bottles the fragrance of summer holidays’ – created by Joey Essex and sold in store.