Mr Clean

1. Mr Clean Wiping the slate clean - Hayley Pardoe

2. The Context The two main competitors identified for Mr Clean are Clorox and Method. • Currently, Method is growing faster than the category and is the biggest threat. Method- Positions itself as ‘Clean green’. • The current campaign is to ‘detox your home’ • This campaign talks a lot about the environmentally friendly nature of Method and the effects of normal cleaners on your health. • It is modern looking, and fashionable both in the product and the articles and magazines it appears in eg, Cosmopolitan and Vanity Fair. • Talks heavily about having a clean home equals a healthy family. • Very Feminine and worthy Clorox- Positions itself as ‘Healthier lives happen in cleaner homes.’ • Very sterile and serious. • Heavily targets mothers, and induces fear to be clean • Latest ads urge parents to clean and disinfect the house for your child to be healthy. • Could be seen as being anal, and talking down to parents as opposed to empowering them.

3. The Context Mr Clean- Positions itself as cleans your whole house and everything in it. • Talk about their products as being tough and easy. • Campaign around Mr Clean tackling the toughest jobs around the country • Mr Clean icon represents ‘tough on dirt’ • Starting up a sponsorship with the TV show ‘Home made simple’, which is about simple solutions for easy living. • Consumer contest about Mr Clean- winning idea was about less work and more play. • It embraced living as opposed to cleaning Conclusion • Both competitors are talking to woman with families. • Both are positioned around a clean home equals a clean family • However Method can own this more convincingly being plant based • Both are very idealistic and may not be seen for real people and ‘families’. • Both promote through fear as opposed to empowerment

4. The Challenge • For Mr Clean to start growing share as opposed to remain static. • There will need to be a significant change in the communications for Mr Clean for people to: • Take notice in a low- involvement category. • Re- evaluate what they have learnt about Mr Clean for so long. • Due to a strong heritage the new campaign will need to: • Be consistent with Mr Clean the brand, and the icon ‘Mr Clean’. • Be relevant and a brand truth in relation to the product offering

5. The Opportunity • Currently there is no brand talking to men or people who don’t have a family. • All the brands positioning is very functional: • “Being Tough on Stains”- Mr Clean • “ Good for your home and the environement”- Method • “A clean home equals a clean family”- Clorox • Both competitors are worthy, and not realistic • Method is the only vibrant brand, Clorox and Mr Clean are both quite clinical. • There need to be a brand who speaks to the individual as opposed to the family. • A brand who empowers rather than prosecutes • A fun and energetic brand that people don’t expect from a cleaning product, that breaks category rules.

6. Target • Mr Clean, needs rapid brand growth. • It’s growth of new customers is likely to be young adults who have just come into the market. • This is because no brand is talking to them- Method is the closest (but very worthy) • They have the longest lifetime value for the brand: • Look at the popularity of banks trying to vie for Graduates • They have no engrained perceptions of Mr Clean • The older target market, are more likely to have brand loyalty with the competitor and on ‘automatic pilot’. • At the moment • They are either flatting or buying their first home • Between the ages of 18- 30 • Are time poor- Their social life, work/uni and interests play a big role in their lives. • Believe you should make the most of your life when you are in your twenties before you have the responsibilities of a family.

7. Target “For today's consumers, clean is often clean enough, but is it convenient enough?” “Only products that are truly convenient to use will capture that fancy time- strapped consumers”. “Sales growth will be driven by products that consumers view as being multi- functional, convenient and safe”. (Information from Household and Personal Products Industry)

8. Reframing the brand • Currently Mr Clean leads by attributes that are overused in the cleaning market • Tough • Reliable • Although these attributes are important, as Mr Clean is not a new product it doesn’t need to communicate these qualities anymore. • The brand needs to become more emotional versus functional in its communications • It needs to speak a truth that young people can relate to • The communications need to have major cut through, in a cluttered environment, to stand out to young adults who are very marketing- savvy.

9. Strategic Approach • The strategic approach is based on the insight, that young people are time poor and cleaning is the last thing they want to do. • Cleaning is seen as something you do when you have to- I don’t have anymore clean clothes left, or the kitchen is getting too messy to prepare my food. • When they do clean- they are not concerned whether it does a good job or what the health effects are of their cleaning • They care that the job gets done so it doesn’t interfere with their life

10. Strategic Approach • It is recommended that the new positioning for Mr Clean is- Uncomplicated Cleaning • This fits well into their new sponsorship of ‘ Home Made Simple’. • It is a product truth of the Mr Clean products, Mr Clean has less cleaning products and more multi- purpose ones than any other product: • Clorox has 25 products, zero multi- purpose products • Method has 13 products, two multi- purpose products • Mr Clean has 7 products, four multi- purpose products. • It is not worthy, nor apologetic of the fact that people don’t like cleaning. • Keeps it real • Highlights the attributes of Mr Clean, which are it’s multi- functional products

11. What Communications do • This positioning is wide enough for there to be great creative • The advertising shouldn’t focus on cleaning but on what young people enjoy doing when they don’t have to clean • The cleaning product just like in life shouldn’t be the focus of the ad • The communications should be around uncomplicated cleaning, cleaning that doesn’t take long to do. • Will need to tie in Mr Clean in some way, but doesn’t need to be a major part of the communications. • The communications should be vibrant, upbeat and humourous • Should focus on real people and real lives • It is recommended that Mr Clean keeps up the sponsorship of “Home made Simple” TV programme.