Ariel is one of the two big players in the German
detergents market, with competitor Persil benefiting from a strong
heritage of over 100 years. Ariel needed to position its
product and communication strategy to appeal to people's support of
sustainalble consumption, which is still strong even in times of
economic strain.
Ariel's target is environmentally conscious, but only when it is
at little extra effort and saves money. Ariel's new detergent
technology allows the consumer to forego the pre-wash, saving water
and money. The challenge was to educate the target to the
scarcity of water as a natural resource and to the financial cost
of over consumption. Ariel started with a pre-launch phase
before the official start of advertising. To sharpen the
targets awareness Ariel used 10 TV Specials: "Surprising water
facts" spots from daily life. Questions like 'did you know
that you consumed 160 litres of water yesterday?' - were placed
within Sat. 1 breakfast TV, catching the target as she starts her
daily routine. Once awareness had been sharpened, the target
was invited to share their own water saving tips. Prizes
worth 20,000 Euros were used as incentive, and the education was
continued on Sat. 1's online portal. Underscoring this
campaign was the fact that using Ariel allows you to give up your
pre-wash, and do your bit for the environment.
In September 2008 Ariel took over market leadership in volume
(+3.4ppts ahead) from long-time German market leader Persil for the
first time.