Malaysian Media Awards Winners Showcase





2014 | |

Febreze Sprays Luck for Chinese New Year

Advertiser: Procter & Gamble (M) Sdn Bhd
Brand: Febreze
Creative Agency: -
Credits: Mediacom Malaysia — Boon Suat Wei (Communication Planner), Jox Petiza (Content Strategist), Cindrew Gan (Executive, Social), Leong Jia Chi (Implementation Executive); Sense Productions — Ray Ng (Producer), GroupM ESP — Liew Chui Ying (Executive, Activation)

The Challenge
Febreze wants to tap the spring cleaning ritual that takes place before CNY. But our targets – housewives – did not really know its use. We wanted to educate consumers that they can lessen time and effort in cleaning hard-to- wash items and refresh them with Febreze instead.

The Solution – Insight & Idea
“I can’t be too sure about life but luck has to be on my side”. Spring cleaning is one of the most important processes to go through before Chinese New Year comes. The Chinese believe that throwing away the old and bringing in the new will pave way to a prosperous year. However, not all Chinese families have the luxury to change all their household items, like sofa, pillows, and curtains. The alternative is to wash or clean them, serving the same purpose as “washing” away bad luck. Then these items are sundried which depends on the temperamental weather of Malaysia. Meanwhile, most of the cleaning is assumed by the housewife, on top of shopping and cooking for the family. There seems to be not enough hands to finish everything on time. Introducing, Febreze LUCKY SPRAY. For Febreze to be top of mind, we needed to join households during the most crucial time of preparation for Chinese New Year- spring cleaning. Febreze helps eliminate tough odors in fabric, refreshes fabric as if it’s washed and kill up to 99.9% bacteria, as good as sun dry.

The Execution
The Febreze Lucky Spray team refreshed 888 homes in three Chinese neighborhoods within Klang Valley. A week before, banners were installed and fliers given away. We educated consumers at the grass roots level by going to their homes, giving them an auspicious start by helping them on their spring cleaning. The Lucky Spray team refreshed items from sofas, mattresses, curtains, even stuffed toys. Ornaments and other lucky items were decorated around houses signifying an auspicious start. We engaged MY FM’s DJ Jeff to be part of the team and produced three 30-second capsules exciting neighborhoods about LUCKY SPRAY.

The lively interaction between the DJ and families captured the joyful experience of spring cleaning:

  • A grandma who was too old to do spring cleaning by herself and who hasn’t cleaned her sofa for years!
  • And a big family who were doing last-minute cleaning before guests arrive MY FM radio cruisers and Xiao MY, the mascot, organized games in the neighborhood along with a lion dance and three houses were rewarded RM888 ang paos.

The Results

  • Febreze sales increased by index 127 (P1M)
  • Reached 928 houses, ix. 104 to target 888 houses
  • Activation well received by residents and capsule received positive feedback with residents asking if the Lucky Spray Team can visit their neighborhoods!