BRAND:
LIFEBUOY
AWARD CATEGORY:
The Best Use of Social Media Creativity
CAMPAIGN TIME RANGE:
26/06/2021 - 11/07/2021
CREDITS:
CASE STUDY VIDEO
STRATEGY
Covid Wave 4 has been lurking across cities in Vietnam since the end of March 2021, marking the longest and most severe outbreak ever since its first hit in beginning of 2020. For the first time, Vietnam, the country ranked second place worldwide in controlling and preventing the outbreak, had witnessed thousands of new cases popping up every day.
After a long year living and fighting against the pandemic, Vietnamese consumers had adapted the habit using hand sanitizers on the go, especially before entering buildings, supermarkets, which had been made compulsory by the Ministry of Health. Hand Sanitizers, therefore, had become a necessity.
Lifebuoy had launched the portable hand sanitizer product in order to encourage out-of-home usage, distributed widely for consumers to purchase and carry wherever they go. As the product’s source of growth was Millennials and Gen Z, the brand focused its effort in reaching out this group of audience, not only to raise awareness of the product’s functionality toward maintaining hand hygiene, but also to educate and remind them to use sanitizers in moments thorough the day. However, carrying the little tubes of sanitizers in the pocket was considered “uncool”, perceived by Millennials and Gen Z. The product itself though represented hygiene but could not spark the interest of the young generation, leading to a challenge for the product to penetrate further in the market.
The brand’s challenge was to find a solution to increase its appeal amongst the target audience. Making hand sanitizer not just an essential, but a cool lifestyle statement to carry along.
INSIGHT
The Millennials and Gen Z in Vietnam are not a shallow cohort. Decision Labs had revealed a survey stating that this generation care a lot about the world around them and show a clear preference for brands that stand for a social cause. This generation is so digital savvy that 79% of them prefer sharing their point of view on social media and 30% admit they prefer to express their feeling on chat apps than in person.
The brand also witnessed that amongst the rising social concerns in Vietnam, fighting for LQBT’s right resonates the strongest with the young community, and over 60% of them admitted they had joined discussion regarding deep-seated prejudice towards the LGBT community. The advocate was no longer an underground movement since 2019, as the first time ever Nguyen Hue Street hosted the annual event called VietPride to promote equality, freedom, and tolerance for the Vietnamese LGBT community.
Since same-sex marriages are not protected by the law, the LGBT community struggles to fight for the safety in love that they deserve. Under Covid outbreak and being a brand that strongly stands for safety in health, Lifebuoy believes everyone should be able to feel that they are safe, regardless in health, in love, or in any other aspect of life. The brand wanted to tap into this daunting issue of “Safety in Love”, to bridge the gap with its consumers and create a better connection with the community through the campaign “Love, like Safety, does not Discriminate Anyone”.
CREATIVE IDEA
Lifebuoy’s objectives & campaign ideas, in linkage with the consumer insights, were to:
- Embed the LGBT advocacy into the brand’s communication and create a story that can tough the hearts of Vietnamese young generation, at the same time create a connection with the brand’s purpose in the occasion of Pride Month, when the spirit is at its peak.
- Turn the community into brand’s ambassadors to help spread the brand’s spirit organically through shared affinity.
- Customize the Lifebuoy Hand Sanitizer packaging with an stylist LGBT themed jacket in the celebration of Pride Month, exclusively launch on E-commerce to boost excitement and call for purchase.
CONNECTION PLAN
Lifebuoy partnered with Vu Mini, a well-known LGBT illustrator, to craft a story called “Until It’s Safe”.
The story illustrates families being separated due to Covid, having to keep in touch with one another through calls, messages, and hope that they can reunite, give each other hugs when it is safe and COVID is finally over. But amongst the various families, couples, the story zooms into an LGBT couple who had been hiding their feelings, masking their encounters, and suppressing their hope for the future, telling the other person “Until it’s safe”.
The story poses a big question for the community: “We can wait until COVID is over, but do you know the LGBT community has been living in this constant fear of insecurity for decades?” and ends with Lifebuoy’s statement: “Lifebuoy Safety4All, Because Safety, Like Love, does not Discriminate”.
“Until It’s Safe” was published across LGBT community fanpages in Pride Month and became an instant hit. Within 2 days, thousands of interactions were generated around the story organically expressing love and support towards Lifebuoy’s message.
The Lifebuoy’s Safety4All Hand Sanitizer jacket was launched exclusively on Lazada after 3 days releasing the story, where each purchase made would contribute to donation for ICS Vietnam, to support for the LGBT community in need.
OBJECTIVE-BASE KPI
Result
The campaign reached out to over 8 million Millennials and Gen Z in urban cities Vietnam.
- The story generated 320,000 discussions within 3 days on social media and was shared over 20,000 times.
- The Lifebuoy Safety4All jackets were sold out within 5 hours launching on Lazada. The second batch was sold out within 3 days, and third batch was sold out within 2 days.
- Return on Advertising Spend on E-commerce reached an all-time-high for Lifebuoy at 4.7, achieved 7 times higher than all previous campaigns of the brand, and 9 times higher than benchmark. Lifebuoy became the best-selling brand on Lazada on Pride Month.
The response from the LGBT community was astounding – they overwhelmingly connected with Safety4All, and showed that “Love, just like safety, does not discriminate anyone”.
