This campaign is a big disruption for the category. Insecticides and repellent communication are usually all about performance and safety. Children, when portrayed, are in the background, as part of the scenario that caretakers are maintaining safe. It's a consensus that these people feel overwhelmed with taking care of the house and the family, so we decided to alleviate a bit of the burden by showcasing that the care is reciprocal. And when the outbreak of Dengue came, the brand stepped in the efforts and walked the talk by caring for mothers, families, and whole communities.

SBP is the leader of the insecticides in Brazil. It has an old relationship with its consumers and is well-known for its efficiency and safety. Of course, competitors strike back by lowering prices and shamelessly copying our communications. So, every couple of years we need to reinvent ourselves while keeping consistency for the brand.

For the summer of 23/24 we were tasked to reignite our emotional connection with caretakers. SBP is perceived as a trusted ally of families for decades and all our brand assets and messages were well understood and well recognized. We need to use those strengths as a jumping point to something fresh, that would capture their attention – and their hearts.

Mosquitos are much more than nuisance in Brazil. Several serious diseases can result from mosquito bites, which makes the task of eliminating them more than a side task. Dengue is the biggest threat, an endemic disease that causes symptoms like strong fever, muscle aches, rash, and nausea. In the summer of 23/24, we had one of the most severe outbreaks in the country’s history, with more than 1,500 deaths and 3 million reported cases in the season. Children are a risk group for Dengue, adding more stress to the already very hard task of spotting a small insect that poses a huge threat for the household.

While SBP’s campaign was offering some relief for caretakers, showing they are seen, and loved, and their kids would face anything to protect them, the numbers of Dengue in Brazil started rising as never seen before.

So, instead of doing like most competitors and just promoting our products, we lived up to our words of protection. Therefore, the second act of the campaign was all about investing heavily to protect families and their children. By reinforcing educational programs in vulnerable communities, spreading information through high-impact media activations, and making special activities in public schools, SBP kept its promise when the country needed it the most.

The goal was to show that protection is not just a word in our packaging. It's the brand’s mission.

In 2016, we started a partnership with London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, a university specialized in tropical diseases, to create a protocol for awareness and education to combat mosquito-borne diseases. Since then, SBP has carried out interventions in Brazilian communities to raise awareness among the socially vulnerable population about the importance of daily care to stay protected from Dengue.

But when the numbers of reported cases skyrocketed, we knew that was more to be done and relied on our own data to overcome the challenge: by mapping the most affected communities, we were able to tackle the problem on site, delivering information and making our products accessible to those who most needed it.

In terms of communication, we created a compelling strategy, summoning celebrities connected to the communities to amplify the message and delivering a high-impact media activation on the most-watched reality show in Brazil.

This love story has two acts.

In act one we set aside for a bit the information about performance of our products to offer some relief for caretakers. Usually burden with the maintenance tasks of the family, these people often feel as if no one takes care of them. So, our campaign showed something that falls under the radar: that their kids would face even their deepest fears to protect them.

In the second act, when one these fears broke into the real world and Brazil faced its worst Dengue outbreak, we walked the talk by investing heavily to protect those families. We reinforced education programs, delivered high-impact media activations, and engaged trade partners in a promotion strategy to boost product access to everyone in need.

A 360 campaign that went beyond brand awareness. And proved that during a Dengue outbreak, to love is to act.

By making a disruption in the category, the message of love and protection of the first act of the “To Love Is To Protect and To Protect is SBP” campaign resonated deeply in social media, including among consummers without children, adding brand value and bringing awareness.

From brand repositioning to guerilla and to the biggest audience in Brazil, the second act managed to impact 11.5 million* people within vulnerable communities, 90%** of which incorporated new habits with the brand’s protection system, which improved the sales in 400%***. With additional 2 million households protected, the reduction of Aedes aegypti mosquito pupae and larvae was up to 50%****.

*Source: Movimento Juntos Contra o Mosquito Season 23-24 (Cufa’s data)

** Source: Data Favela 2024

*** Source: Amazon sales data

****Associated with other education and prevention measures. Source: Clinergy Health Research - clinical study carried out in the city of Santos in 2022.