2018 Super Bowl “Tide Ad”
Word of mouth is an extremely important factor, when we are talking about detergents. “Tide” has successfully earned the loyalty and love from most of the American citizens. Actually, Tide is the number one detergent in America and if this isn’t convincing enough, then we should remember the fact that Tide has earned some impressive awards and titles of its own.
That being said, it didn’t become successful overnight. Tide has been active on the market for 70 years and as each one of those years passed the company made significant efforts to face stains and please its customers. The company is dedicated to continuous advancement and fresh innovations, as they know that the needs and the requirements of their customers keep growing each day. For that reason, Tide every year comes up with three innovations when it comes to fighting stains.
This year’s Tide Super Bowl campaign is considered as rather distinctive. Tide decided to create a different campaign than the average Super Bowl spots, by airing four small videos with surreal scenes. David Harbour, the famous actor from the show “Stranger Things”, is starring in each scene. The company’s goal was to set Harbor to act as a narrator, asking viewers to see every ad that includes people wearing clean clothes, as a Tide ad.
We see him in famous ads that, at the first glance, appear to be about everything else except Tide. We think we see ads about diamonds, fancy cars, mattresses, beer etc. but Harbour comes to prove us wrong.
“Does this make every Super Bowl ad a Tide ad?” the actor questions, since all commercials feature clean clothes, with the line “If it’s clean, it’s got to be Tide”. With that simple trick, Tide very smartly manages to associate itself with every ad that features clean clothes and twist the marketing campaigns of other popular brands into “Tide ads”!
The executives’ strategy to create four small spots was actually clever. Each spot can stand on its own, without viewers being obligated to watch the whole story in order to get the point. In all scenes there is the slogan ‘’it’s a Tide ad’’, which seems to be the campaign’s motto. Tide wants that phrase to be imprinted into their customers’ mind, something that they seem to have accomplished.
That campaign combines some important factors, that’s why it is proved to be successful. First of all, there is the ‘’surprise’’ factor. Each scene surprises audience by showing other companies and products, in order to reveal in the end that it is a “Tide ad”. When the audience sees a slick car or Isaiah Mustafa on a white horse, they instinctively expect particular brand commercials. But they’re Tide ads! Surprise enhances people’s emotions and makes them react more enthusiastically towards something.
Another major ingredient for their success is the social influence. The campaign features some very famous TV figures in order to validate the brand. Apart from David Harbour, the well-known actor, other celebrity influencers, such as Betty White, Danica Patrick, Isaiah Mustafa, even Mr. Clean, are here to enhance the brand love.
Lastly, the element of contrast is dominant through the entire campaign. Tide combined in the same campaign, both expensive items like cars or diamonds, with everyday items like soft drinks. It is a smart move, which several companies have used, like in the case of ‘’Doritos Blaze vs. Mountain Dew Ice”, where the two contrasting elements of fire and ice, become one.
So Tide seems to have found the right recipe for a successful marketing campaign!
Viral Vixens: Marina Karvouni, Elena Tsakiridou, georgia flaouna
