SINGAPORE – For decades, mouthwash ads have typically relied on product claims, functionality, oral health factoids, and product demonstrations. This month J. Walter Thompson led the launch of a new campaign across Asia that positions LISTERINE® as a lifestyle brand.
Armed with the insight that LISTERINE® users seem to have a little extra edge to them, J. Walter Thompson helped design “The Study of Bold”, a survey of 6,000 people (half of whom use LISTERINE® and half who don’t) in six markets – including Japan and Thailand, in Asia.
The study found that LISTERINE® users indeed live bolder lives: they’re more likely to sky dive, dance in public, volunteer, eat exotic foods, start their own company, plan a trip and leave on the same day, juggle, stand up to a bully, and do card tricks.
“The Study of Bold” provided a list of standout statistics and stories to fuel content for the “Bring Out The Bold”, a humorous global integrated campaign that launched on April 1.
“We know Listerine does good things for your mouth. But we’ve also noticed Listerine ignites something inside you. It prepares you to go out in the world and do bold things,” said Tay Guan Hin, J. Walter Thompson Singapore’s Regional Executive Creative Director on Listerine.
In Asia, J. Walter Thompson Singapore’s regional J&J hub team leveraged popular culture to create a series of memorable characters to bring the appeal of Listerine-led boldness to life: the Fearless Warrior, inspired by a famous food blogger, Handsome Teeth, which riffs off Asia’s K-Pop mania; and the Salesman, the go-get-‘em guy with the confidence to upsell anything to anyone.
“The concept of being bold means different things to different people, all over the world. Our aim was to create a series of Bring Out The Bold films that connected with Asian consumers. The idea was to make them laugh – and go buy Listerine,” says Tay.
By positioning LISTERINE® as a lifestyle brand, ‘Bring Out The Bold’ marks new ground for the product and the category. Listerine is a market leader but there’s still plenty of room for growth among young consumers who don’t use mouthwash and in emerging markets, so Listerine wanted to move the needle in order to attract new customers.
J. Walter Thompson Singapore produced and edited three 30-second and four 15-second TV spots and three pre-roll films for the Asian leg of the campaign, which launched in Korea on April 1 and will roll out across seven Asian markets over the coming weeks.
