Procter & Gamble has used Tony Abbott's election win to launch its first tactical ad campaign in Australia using its Oral B brand’s strapline 'Make the Switch'.
It reads: 'Australia, you've made the switch. Over a million Australians have already tried Oral-B toothpastes. Go Pro. Make the switch today.'
Oral B Pro Health, which launched in February, invited Australians to switch to its brand in the launch campaign.
The ad for its Oral-B Pro Health toothpastes runs in today's Telegraph, as well as on social channels including Facebook.
It is the first time P&G has run this kind of activity in the region. It follows the success of similar activity elsewhere such as the UK and the US where the company is experimenting with using tactical events and new approaches to marketing to raise brand awareness and demonstrate the benefits of its products.
In the US, an oil spill following a crash at the Nascar Daytona 500 racing event was cleaned up using laundry detergent Tide, offering P&G an unexpected opportunity to use the event to highlight its brand.
P&G created a TV ad using footage from the oil spill and the strapline: 'You keep inventing stains. We’ll keep inventing ways to get them out’. The ad ran the next day and was spread by fans on social media raising the profile of the brand.
P&G also used this tactic to drive actitivy during the London 2012 Olympics. Marc Pritchard, global marketing and brand building officer at P&G has talked about the need for brands to operate like newsrooms in order to take advantage of these kind of opportunities.
Joel Cotter, Oral-B brand manager, told AdNews: “We’re always looking for executions where we can engage our audience with timely and relevant news hooks. With Oral-B’s current campaign communicating ‘Make the Switch’ – the election result was the perfect opportunity to tactically link in Oral-B messaging. We decided that Oral-B was appropriate for this execution as the message appeals to our target audience and brings to life our brand and campaign messaging. As this was such a topical event, we hoped it would engage our consumers and attract attention.
“One of the best examples of this kind of activity comes from the Tide brand in the US. The key to the success for the Tide team was the immediacy of the campaign, which took advantage of a timely and topical news event to bring to life the brand’s key messages.”
Separately, Lastminute.com.au has also jumped on the post-election bandwagon with a Twitter campaign asking Aussies to tweet suggestions for where ousted leader Kevin Rudd should go now using the hashtag #whereshouldkevgo.
Kirsty La Bruniy, Lastminute head of marketing communications, said: “No doubt Mr Rudd will want to escape the post election commotion. As to where Kevin should escape to, we’re calling on the Australian people to again cast their vote. No one knows what life may throw at them, like losing an election to Mr Abbott, so we recommend spontaneity as the way to go. This destination election comes at the ideal time. As Kevin packs up his desk, why not pack a suitcase as well and take a much-needed holiday?”
Seen any tacticals? Let us know.
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