Clorox partners with Bravo & NBC Universal … because spilling the tea happens!
By Robin Santos, Associate Director, Brand Engagement, and Matthew King, Associate Director, Brand Engagement
This cold and flu season Clorox was faced with a unique dilemma: increasing household penetration among consumers who had disinfection fatigue. To answer this call, a new ad campaign “Because Life Happens,” launched encouraging consumers to embrace the unexpected and messy moments as a reminder that the brand offers both serious germ killing and a solution for messes.
Clorox looked to a partnership that would bring levity to the messy moments embodied in the “Because Life Happens” creative and realized no one knows a little mess better than reality TV stars. It’s clear the messiest and most iconic pop culture moments always stem from the same thing: spilling some “tea.”
This is why Clorox teamed up with Bravo’s The Real Housewives franchise as part of a larger partnership with NBC Universal and BravoCon. The Real Housewives have a dedicated fanbase that’s extremely socially engaged and spends it’s money accordingly on anything a bravolebrity touches. This offered an opportunity to break through and differentiate from our competitors with an attention-grabbing paid integration utilizing voices our audience trusts and content designed to bring a renewed sense of joy around cleaning.
The campaign consisted of:
- Four custom ad spots featuring The Real Housewives fan-favorites Gizelle Bryant, Lisa Barlow and Gina Kirschenheiter engaging in a messy and magical tea party airing across linear and streaming as well as organic and paid social channels.
- Custom content featuring an all-star cast of core products (Clorox Disinfecting Wipes, Clorox Clean-Up + Bleach, Clorox Toilet Bowl Cleaner and Clorox Disinfecting Bleach) each with its own tagline inspired by The Real Housewives’ iconic intros. These came to life across paid advertising on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.
- BravoCon, a three-day event attracting 30,000 attendees to Las Vegas: This integration included an immersive Clorox bathroom takeover (because we all know the most tea is spilled in the bathroom), Clorox-sponsored panels that were sure to get messy and an influencer and media event with Clorox at Drybar.
- Earned media partnerships with Dr. Nicole Martin and Lisa Barlow: To speak to the importance of a holistic prevention strategy, including cleaning and disinfecting amid cold and flu season, with Dr. Nicole Martin of The Real Housewives of Miami for We with Lisa Barlow of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City to continue to amplify key cold and flu messaging throughout the winter and launch our sweepstakes.
Looking ahead, we’ll continue to leverage our new credibility within the Bravo community to drive awareness and synergy with our “Because Life Happens” campaign into the winter:
- Sweepstakes: To drive engagement post-BravoCon, Clorox will host a sweepstakes where fans can enter for a chance to win an all-expenses-paid trip to New York City!
- The Real Housewives social influencers: We also begin partnerships with several well-known Housewives to distribute social content throughout January and February to promote our sweepstakes and drive product trial.