I Don't Roll on Shabbos

By Mediacom Connections, Tel Aviv, Israel

For Procter & Gamble Brand Gillette

Highly Commended in category Media

WPPED Cream
WPPED Cream
WPPED Cream
Project Description
Life in Israel’s Orthodox Jewish community is hard. Temperatures averaging over 40 degrees Celsius in the summer make wearing heavy black suits and fur hats every day an uncomfortable experience.
This makes them sweat… profusely.
This is a particular problem on the Sabbath – Judaism’s holiest day running from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday. Orthodox Jews are forbidden from doing anything that’s considered work – even using a deodorant.
And that makes Sabbath prayers in packed synagogues a very smelly affair.
What they needed was a powerful deodorant – one with advanced 48-hour protection.
But Gillette wasn’t even considered by the Orthodox community. They favour cheaper and less effective brands.
What’s more - they don’t shave, so would not be familiar with Gillette. Plus, religious restrictions mean they are not exposed to brands in mainstream media.
We needed to identify unique media touchpoints to justify our premium to the Orthodox community.
Agency Solution
Our revelation was found in the unlikeliest of places – the bible.
In fact, God warns his followers that praying in an area of foul odour makes your prayer ineffective! The smell distracts your mind and thus interferes with your intentions.
This little-known commandment gave us the opportunity to own the strict Sabbath preparations observed by more than 3 million Jews – something never before done by a brand.
We recruited Judaism’s rabbinical authority – the most influential leaders across the country – getting their consent to raise awareness of the forgotten biblical decree that malodour can affect the effectiveness of prayer.
Our creative idea was to take God’s blessing and tell the Orthodox community how to make prayer time less smelly and more effective.
Specifically, we wanted to get Gillette’s deodorant in the community’s hands before the start of the Sabbath service, allowing us to demonstrate how our advanced 48-hour protection could make their prayers more effective.
Phase one saw us recruit the rabbinical authority to put our message on bulletin boards in synagogues nationwide – the only media channel in the temples.
With malodour now being debated by the community, we launched phase two of our strategy – a side-by-side battle of the synagogues!
One congregation was given Gillette deodorant, the other served as a control; cutting-edge Japanese odometers inside both synagogues measured odour levels.
The Gillette congregation came out on top (4 times less odour intensity!) and with word-of-mouth spreading, we launched phase three; domination of Orthodox media channels.
This included:
• The last radio commercial before the Sabbath;
• Sponsoring candle lighting schedules in every Orthodox newspaper;
• A fridge magnet listing tasks to be completed before the Sabbath, including applying Gillette, inserted into newspapers; and
• The first brand use of the street sirens that sound to mark the start of Sabbath, using the iconic Gillette musical sting.
Please rotate your device
to portrait orientation