Insight
While DAC was new on the frontline, its competition was enjoying a legacy of trust that it had built through the years. Dettol’s legacy and DAC TV commercials with side by side demos, scenes in labs and a 99.9% germ wipeout claim were not convincing the audience anymore. They didn't allow DAC to grow and be part of a mother’s consideration within her home defence arsenal. DAC's market share started to suffer, seeing a steady decrease in the disinfectant category in KSA, from 49.3% in 2011 to 45.3% in 2014 (Jan-Sep – KSA – Source: Nielsen). They had to reconnect with the audience by correlating brand attributes with audience characteristics.
Strategy
When it comes to household management, Arab women fall into 4 different personality categories: The OCD mum, the overbearing mum, the ‘shortcut’ mum and the modern mum. Every day, after the departure of husbands and kids, these 4 personalities clash during traditional morning gatherings called ‘sobhiyas.’ These sobhiyas, which are supposedly a time for chitchat and neighbourhood gossip often turn into battles of egos and who does best in household management.
To involve DAC in everyday household use, OMD MENA created "Sobhiya,” an insightful story of 4 very different Arab ladies, brought to life in the form of a humorous and culturally relevant web series that lasted for 6 months.
The plot unfolded with the appearance of a suitor for the daughter of one of the four ladies, allowing endless opportunities for DAC products to be involved in the plot and in securing impeccable first impressions.
Execution
OMD MENA launched this video based activation that was brought to life in the form of a web series, narrating the story of these women and their daily encounters while filmed in a light and humorous tone. The story started to unfold around planning the wedding of one of the women’s daughters, with DAC embedded as part of the storyline. Rather than scripting the entire series from the start, the agency began to monitor consumers’ sentiments and comments on their page to get clues on how the content should develop. The audience began to relate to each of the characters, their personalities and the storyline. Discussion and debates sparked within the growing community, and OMD MENA ended up entirely changing the planned season finale with a surprise twist.
The agency’s content marketing strategy was simple yet effective. With content at the core, OMD MENA utilized YouTube to build viewership, Facebook to connect with the audiences and narrate the story, display to build frequencies and maximize reach and, in addition, rich-media executions on mobile devices
Results
From a business perspective, Sobhiya contributed to a 2.3% boost in market share. The campaign generated 2.6 million views, 700,000 of which were organic - a region first for both Henkel and the category. With these views OMD MENA reached 87% unique views and grew the DAC fan-base by over 146%.
Engagement soared up to 212%, while the trust sentiment rose by 68%.
The series received an increased 83% in positive interactions, while 60% of the discussion points were about comparing how the 4 hero ladies handled their household to how the audience currently performed in their own household, putting DAC at the centre of this endless debate.