Eight out of ten teens have low self esteem due to spots. Strengthening confidence was the focus when launching ACO’s new acne skin care product line 'Spotless'. The campaign 'Spotless Comeback' gave spotty teens tools to be proud of themselves. The goal; engage 10% of the target group, 50 blog mentions and increase ACO’s segment market share. The campaign hub was a two-part website. Part one was a casual game where the spotty hero battles bullies with 'comebacks' – clever answers when gibed. Part two was a forum for discussing spots. Spotless Comeback was spread through targeted PR to beauty, lifestyle and gaming bloggers, a media collaboration, competitions, viral videos and interactive banners on MSN Live Messenger. Game characters came to life, e.g. the Blog Princess blogged on a web-magazine. At the end of the month campaign, ACO’s market share had grown by 13%.

15% of the target group was engaged. 42,500 were reached by about 85 blog mentions. The Blog Princess had 18,000 visitors, spotlesscomeback.se had 24,000 visitors , 10,600 games had been played and the average playing time was 18.5 minutes.

- Engage at least 10% of the target group- PR-goals: at least 50 blog mentions about Spotless- Increase ACO’s segment market share

Campaign period: October 2009, Sweden.Targeted PR - bloggersBeauty Products were pre-launched to popular beauty bloggers. They nick-named one product 'a real spot-killer'.GamingGame trailer was spread to gaming bloggers. One blogger even wrote the post “Advertising I Like” about it.

LifestyleDiscussion about how to deal with spots was initiated on lifestyle blogs.CompetitionsMini-competitions on selected blogs for product kits.

Media CollaborationThe character “The Blog Princess” blogged on Veckorevyn.com, Sweden’s most popular web-magazine for teenage girls. She interviewed skin care experts, famous bloggers about spots and a spokeswoman from an anti-bullying organization “Friends” about confidence. Competitions and a survey about girls’ relations to spots were executed.Daily Spot SurveillanceThrough maintaining qualitative relations and contacting more blogs, chances for niche activities emerged e.g. the game character Kenny West (parody on Kanye West) gained popularity and released a viral video about spots.BannersCocky, interactive banners programmed to be seen by the target group were placed on Windows Live Messenger.

Spotless Comeback was the only marketing activity to promote the new products. At the end of 2009, ACO’s market share in the acne product segment had grown 13% compared to 2008. 15% of the target group was reached during the campaign period.MORE NUMBERS85 blog mentions about Spotless/Spotless Comeback reached 42,500 (Average blog readership 500/week, from 50-10 000/week.)The Blog Princess readers: 18,000Visits to spotlesscomeback.se: 24,400Games played: 10,600Average game time: 18.5 minutesHigh score competition registers: 1,2005 blog competitions with Spotless productsOver 500 one-to-one interactions with the target group

The product name was merged with the campaign name: 'Spotless Comeback'. The term 'comeback' means a clever answer when being gibed. The target group, 13-17 year olds, prefer to engage with brands online. Therefore, the campaign was digital. A campaign hub, that signalled both entertainment and seriousness, was created. One part was a casual game, which trained the player to deliver comebacks to school bullies such as the popular girl, the jock and the gangster. Popular characters came to life outside the game. Part two was a discussion forum. Outside this hub, the campaign was composed of PR, a media collaboration and banners on Windows Live Messenger.

A survey conducted by ACO, the Nordic segment leader in skin care products, showed that eight out of ten teens have low self esteem due to spots. Most advertising for acne products convey that spots make you unhappy. Strengthening teen confidence became the focus of the launch campaign for ACO’s new acne skin care series “Spotless”.