Breeze washes stains with big hearts

FOR SEVERAL MONTHS now, we have seen one TV commercial after another from Unilever’s Breeze coaxing mothers not to be alarmed over their children getting their clothes dirty during their hours of play or during activities at school.

Let’s face it, Filipino mothers get paranoid about their children not keeping clean, manifested by clean clothes, clean shoes, and every bit of apparel connected with his overall appearance. When they come home from anywhere with dirtied clothes, moms often berate them for being naughty or just careless about keeping themselves clean and neat.

I recently caught a very realistic digital material mounted for Breeze entitled “The Good Experiment” which recorded a radical change of perspective of mothers on dirt. The four-minute video by Dentsu Jayme Syfu set up mothers regularly taking their toddlers to school.

Because the whole thing was shot as it truly happened, the reaction of the mothers to their children’s doing good was a good tug at the heartstrings of the viewer. Anna Mangilin, Unilever Home Care Director, revealed that the material was lauded as “the third most shared video in Asia for the month” by Campaign Asia. I was impressed at how the agency realistically demonstrated how mothers had accepted their children’s getting their clothes and hands dirtied.

I linked this up and recalled that it was, too, the crux of the regional campaign of Breeze, “Dirt is Good.” The regional TV commercial, while the insights were from the Philippines, was produced by Lowe, Singapore.

As you sit still and follow the digital campaign to its end, the mothers are given the recording of their children in school. Each of the three children separately notice a lolo (grandfather) gardener whose wagon wheel breaks loose. His set of soiled garden pots need to be carried — and each child slowly but unhesitatingly embraces a big soiled pot and carries this for the beleaguered lolo. One girl even transplants a whole shrub!

Needless to say, the children’s clothes and hands are soiled to the utmost. The video ends with the children being awarded for their helpfulness, posted as “Student of the Day” on the school’s bulletin board.

The scenes follow one after the other showing the mothers joyfully praising their children in sharp contrast with the opening scenes where they are shown scolding their kids for having dirtied their clothes.

I specially like Dentsu’s concluding the so-called experiment with each of the mothers separately interpreting the actions of their children. One said that it dramatized clearly the good heart of her child. And the two other moms said they were happy to see that their lessons imparted to their kids had borne fruit. And so they happily rated themselves as good mothers.

Come to think of it, the material allows the mothers their perennial role as hero. Good marketing thrust for certain by Breeze brand manager Faye Raborar and the whole marketing team of Anna.

The video ends with a memorable tagline: “It’s easier to wash away stains than it is to bring up a good child.”

Congratulations to Unilever Philippines and Dentsu Jayme Syfu for injecting good solid values into good and effective marketing and advertising.

Credits, Client-company, Unilever Philippines: Brand, Breeze. Anna Mangilin, marketing director; Faye Raborar, brand manager; Marian Tan, assistant brand manager. Agency, Dentsu JaymeSyfu, Inc.: Merlee Jayme, chairwoman and chief creative officer, writer; Ronald Barreiro, general manager/managing partner; Diday Alcudia, chief strategic director; Acee Vitangcol, digital strat director; Lieza Punsalan, group account director; Natasha Rodriguez, account executive; Gian Carlo Nealega, copywriter; Reuben Francis Vidanes, art director; Dane Mangahas, social manager. Production: Jem Lim, producer; Danise Talaba, assistant producer; Jelise Cheung, director. Production house, Straightshooters, Inc.