The Challenge

Staying fresh for longer

In 2006, Johnson & Johnson asked us to develop a creative campaign for Carefree Barely There Liners. The Carefree brand was doing well in the marketplace: Carefree Liners had been a clear market leader since 2002, with over 52% market share versus Libra’s 36%.

Our knowledge of the 18-39 years old target audience told us we had to be very specific in our approach to this campaign. The biggest barrier to increased sales was the lack of ‘need recognition’ from these women.

Our Solution

We developed a raft of strategic ideas that focused on the idea of ‘freshness’, and put these strategic directions into focus groups.

The campaign objective was to drive usage of Carefree Liners – with the message being, ‘Stay fresh for longer with Carefree Barely There’. How could we deliver this occasion based, product benefit-led message in a contemporary and relevant way to the target?

We used a music festival as the setting for this concept: a fun-filled activity with great appeal to our target market, but also an event that places personal hygiene under great stress. The tag line was ‘Feel Fresh, Feel Carefree’ and the media was divided into three bursts.

Results

Sales uplift for Carefree

The results for this 2006 campaign were excellent. Carefree’s total brand sales increased by 6%, Barely There Liners increased by 15%, and TV recall hit 34%.

In 2008, we were asked to continue the campaign with a refreshed execution. So we used the original creative idea, but in a different setting. The same ‘stop-motion’ video technique related back to the 2006 ads, but we changed the setting to nightclubs.

The message of freshness and longevity remained, the campaign objectives were the same, and we used the original tag line: ‘Feel Fresh, Feel Carefree’. This time round, the results were even better. Sales rose as soon as the new TV went to air, helped by a price promotion in Coles and Woolworth stores.

Normally, these promotions give a 7% uplift in sales, but while the TV was running, we saw a 21% uplift in sales. This means that 14% of that sales uplift can be directly attributed to the creative performance of the new TV.

Importantly, the results showed that the original research and brand insight was not only accurate, but also retained its appeal for our target market two years later.