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March 2007 - Strategy Magazine
Creative

Outstanding new campaigns
Clearasil's spotty campaign scores free media, global pickup interest

by Annette Bourdeau
page 27

What's a dalmatian without its spots?

A new campaign for Clearasil, recently acquired by Toronto-based Reckitt Benckiser Canada, features two executions of spot-endowed animals - a dalmatian and a ladybug - getting "cleared up" by a tube of Clearasil.

The OOH campaign is a rejigged version of a European effort originally slated to run in Canada as is. "We didn't like the way they took it, so we recrafted the campaign," explains Ron Tite, CD at Toronto-based Sharpe Blackmore Euro RSCG, adding that the original was too focused on the visuals, and the copy wasn't informative.

The new executions, which launched last month, play up insights gleaned from focus groups with the teen target.

"They're very skeptical.... They want guarantees, and they want to know how long it will take, realistically," says Etelka Gavaller, VP, group account director at Sharpe. "The key objective is to bring Clearasil back to the forefront - there hasn't been a lot of marketing support recently."

As a bonus, CBS and Pattison Outdoor have selected the campaign to use in a joint research project they're carrying out with Calgary Transit on the effectiveness of transit advertising. This translates into free extra media for Clearasil on Calgary's LRT trains.

Tite reports that, as of press time, there was talk of the campaign being picked up in Belgium, Portugal and France.

client: Reckitt Benckiser Canada

agency: Sharpe Blackmore Euro RSCG

ECD: Paul McClimond

CD: Ron Tite

copywriter: Aaron Chown

AD: Mihail Nedkov

VP/group account director: Etelka Gavaller

account supervisor: Lesley Boros

photographer: Rick Johnston

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