Clean Jersey Swap – Tide & NFL

P&G detergent brand Tide promoted its ‘Tide Hygienic Clean’ product and leveraged the US trend for washing clothes more often during the pandemic through a Peyton Manning fronted integrated NFL activation running through September 2020 and February 2021 which kept alive the post-game player jersey swap tradition after it was banned by the league’s special Covid-19 mitigation measures.

Territory: USA

Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi (NY), MKTG (Cincinnati), Marina Maher Communications + Ketchum (NY), Platinum Rye Entertainment/The Marketing Arm, Biscuit Filmworks (LA), Pickle (NY), TiltShift (LA), The Mill (LA) & Harbor Picture Company (NY)

Objective

Due to Covid-19, the delayed 2020/21 NFL season was a season like no other, Many of the games were limited in-stadium to just cardboard fans, with only virtual tailgaters and the huge fanbase forced to watch their teams from the safety of their own homes. So many NFL traditions were lost – including the jersey swap.

So long an act of respect and sportsmanship between opposing players, in order to ensure that the usual 256 regular season games took place in the usual 17-week slot between September 2020 and January 2021 the NFL set out a series of health-led, pandemic mitigation measures in July and one of these was a bar on post-game, on-field jersey swaps.

When the new rule was announced several players were upset and quick to criticise the decision. For example, Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson called the decision “damn silly”, while San Francisco 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman posted “This is a perfect example of NFL thinking in a nutshell. Why is it that players can go engage in a full contact game apparently safely, but then it is deemed unsafe for them to exchange jerseys afterwards”.

The marketers at NFL partner P&G detergent brand Tide and agency Saatchi & Saatchi (NY) quickly spotted an activation opportunity to rescue the tradition and to showcase the cleaning power of its new ’Tide Hygienic Clean’ product.

It also offered an opportunity to leverage the mass consumer trend for washing clothes more regularly during the pandemic: something which saw laundry detergent manufacturers such as Unilever, Church & Dwight and The Clorox Company all report revenue rises in 2020 and 2021.

Activation

Ahead of the start of the season, the NFL’s official detergent brand launched an initiative aimed at promoting its product, proving its brand promise whilst keeping the valued post-game tradition alive despite the pandemic via a ‘Clean Jersey Swap – Powered By Tide Hygienic Clean’ initiative.

The concept saw Tide work with the league and all 32 teams to identify post-game swaps and then work with all franchise equipment managers to wash the jerseys in Tide Hygienic Clean and then swiftly deliver the deep cleaned shirts to their new owners.

The idea was that every jersey swap would act as a real world demonstration of the product.

Tide, with amplification from the league, teams and players promoted the initiative (and shared its results in the form of deep cleaned shirts) via an integrated campaign fronted by NFL legend and brand ambassador Peyton Manning which spanned broadcast, social content and a PR push boosted by many spontaneous and unsolicited social content posted by the players on their personal channels after receiving their clean jerseys.

The initiative was based around a central ‘swap hub’ microsite and the linked activation launched in September at the start of the 20/21 season.

A hero 30-second spot aired on 25 October which saw Peyton Manning appear as a branded ‘SwapBot’ which collected (after a little comic difficulty) game jerseys and took them to equipment managers to wash them and then mail them to their intended recipients.

Tide // NFL Clean Jersey Swap from Steve Evans on Vimeo.

The TV commercial was backed by an additional pair of two 30-second ads starring current NFL players Quinnen Williams (New York Jets) and Mark Ingram (Baltimore Ravens) and further supported by brand-created social content.

Tide also encouraged participating players to post about the exchange on their own social media. Some of these swaps were then also amplified via Tide’s Twitter and Instagram platforms using the #JerseySwap hashtag and accompanied by behind the scenes footage.

To further promote the project, Tide worked with broadcast partner ESPN to produce a five-minute segment that touches on the history of jersey swapping and explains why the tradition matters to NFL players (eg admiration, friendship, man cave memorabilia) with a Tide bottle and branded Tide box containing a just-washed jersey making brief appearances. This segment aired 11 October on ESPN’s ‘Sunday NFL Countdown’ program.

“People’s habits and practices have changed quite a bit and Americans aren’t rewearing the same clothing items as often as they used to without washing them first,” explained Jenny Maxwell, senior brand director at P&G’s fabric care division, which oversees Tide. “The best idea always starts with an amazing insight. And if you can partner that with a culturally relevant moment, that makes it just pure gold for us.”

Outcome

Tide ensured an NFL tradition continued through the pandemic as more than 1000 players across every team signed up to swap jerseys.

Amongst the activation’s key success metrics were:
> 800m+ earned media impressions

> 22% sales growth through the period of the campaign

> New ‘Tide Hygienic Clean’ outsold the entire Persil brand

While P&G’s fabric care division grew by ‘high single digits’ for the two quarters ending 30 September 2020 and 30 December 2020 and overall the Cincinnati-based company’s year-over-year net sales climbed 9% to $19.3bn.