OMO UNILEVER

CASE STUDY SUMMARY:

The Chinese Lunar New Year - Têt in Vietnamese - is the only festival celebrated by the entire nation. It’s a celebration when the whole country unifies and immerses in their culture and heritage. It’s a festival about family, centred around meal traditions and ancestral rituals. OMO was the largest brand (65% market share in 2009 *) and the most expensive detergent in Vietnam.  

A detergent brand had no role to play in a festival centred around family, food, and traditions. To give OMO a meaningful role to play in people’s lives during Têt, we focussed on what people cherished the most, the age-old values of Têt. Through our research, we rediscovered an old saying about Têt saying that “Têt doesn’t come until you make it with your own hands.”

The role of OMO this Têt became to encourage Vietnamese kids to get dirty to uphold family connectedness. Because after all, Dirt is Good! **

RESULTS:

• OMO sold 25 million detergent packs instead of its initial target of 15 million.

• OMO’s brand attribute ‘Most Loved Brand’ went up by 2 points. And most importantly we weaved OMO into the cultural fabric of Vietnam.

  (Sources: Unilever and Nielsen 2011).

Note: I was Strategic Planner at Mullen Lowe, reporting to the Head of Planning and working with Account Management, Creative and Production specialists.

* Unilever CMI; ** ‘Dirt is Good’ is OMO’s global brand positioning