Account Planning School of the Web Assignment: Refresh Mr. Clean Brett Macfarlane Brettmacfarlane.typepad.com Note: this is an identifier slide and not part of the presentation

Mr. Clean Business Challenge Mr. Clean has been around seemingly as long as dirt itself. The brand has lost sales growth momentum and is challenged by upstart brands such as Method and green cleaners.

While brand awareness is high, if not universal, on the shelf Mr. Clean products have become just another option to pick off the line, rather than a brand actively “chosen.” Consumers now have real “choice” with upstart brands offering tangible differentiation. And people are increasingly choosing these upstarts and paying more for them. Brand Challenge

Symbol Addition “Mr. Clean’s reliance on practical attributes has left no emotional connection to the brand and squeezed profit margins. $  “New Lower Price” %  “XX% more inside” X  “XX times more effective/easier”

The Upstarts Everybody gets that a cleaner cleans and being the cleanest cleaner doesn’t really stand out anymore. Relying on efficacy is increasingly irrelevant. The upstarts, have carved out emotional territories by aligning with significant cares and interests of consumers - the environment and the visual aesthetic cleanliness of a home’s interior above and beyond just “dirt” cleanliness.

Baggage As a category champion Mr. Clean has a lot of clichéd communications baggage to be wary of. The harried housewife. The pride of a clean home. Effortless cleaning claims. Packaging featuring those uber clean illustrations.

The Opportunity Mr. Clean retains massive brand leadership over the upstarts. Lets evolve Mr. Clean into a fresh mental territory that differentiates the brand and adds value to its usage. All in a way that builds pricing power and creates a more emotional, and therefore loyal, link to the brand. This position can be rich enough to filter though all aspects of the brand and into all communications. And universal enough to apply to a broad range targets/demographics as campaigns and specific products require.

But Lets Be Real Lets not try to sugar coat this. No matter how many smiles and shiny people one shows, cleaning is still dirty. You don’t like the process, just the end result. And price and efficacy is increasingly a zero sum game. And as a leader, lets not follow the upstarts. Lets create and own a new territory that makes cleaning fresh and relevant in today’s world.

The Last Bastion of Daydreaming We are all busy people, and cleaning is just another chore on our To Do lists. But there is an easily overlooked benefit of the cleaning ritual. In the 30 or so minutes you spend, by yourself usually, completing a simple cleaning task you give your overworked mind a break. Your mind starts to wander. Kind of like in grade 3 math class. It’s a bit of a mental time out.

What if… Instead of a chore, cleaning became a time out. A chance to clean your home, office, cabin… and your mind. A chance for your mind to take a rest and wander about. Mr. Clean celebrated the last bastion of adult daydreaming.

How This Could Manifest Itself Visually focus packaging around fantasy. Mr. Clean himself is fantastical to begin with after all. Make packaging more than a container but a vehicle for mental games – i.e. the adult cereal box. In store end cap display care pack – a magic eraser, CD, a Cosmo magazine and chocolate. Instead of the nag he is, make Mr. Clean an empathetic icon and give him a voice. He’s too perfect, what’s the dirt on him and what does he think about when cleaning. Lets blog it and give him a AM radio talk show. Contextually select media buys – fantasy movies, escapist dramas, travel shows, etc… Sponsor a mental health column in Real Simple. Mr. Clean mental chill out lounge at outdoor festivals. Print ad placement beside Sudoku in metro dailies. And so on.

Thank You Brett Macfarlane Brettmacfarlane.typepad.com