In another variation on the current trend for sponsoring abstract concepts, ideas and words (rather than an official set of rights), recent months saw Australian laundry powder Vanish launched a campaign to sponsor one of the most famous and iconic buildings in the world – The White House.
Vanish wanted to get consumers talking about how its new Napisan Crystal White product range keeps white clothes white, so the brand teamed up with Euro RSCG, Sydney and PR agency,Red on a White House sponsorship initiative.
Leveraging the US debt crisis, a Vanish spokesperson created a YouTube film offering President Obama AUD$25m (the brand’s entire annual marketing budget) to sponsor the White House.
The brand then appointed Washington DC lobbying firm Grayling to set-up meetings with US influencers and politicians, and campaign spokesperson Adam Whittaker went to Washington to ‘negotiate’ the deal.
The brand placed webfilms of Whittaker’s negotiations on Vanish’s Sponsor the White House Facebook page and even wrote letters to every member of Congress.
Australian Facebook fans of the brand then began offering their own ‘white houses’ for sponsorship on the off chance that Obama might decline the offer. So vanish tweaked the campaign and launched a competition to sponsor an Australian white house.
The winning house received $25,000, while runners-up won a year’s supply of Vanish Napisan.
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Of course, the strategy around the ‘sponsorship’ campaign was largely about media coverage and the brand claims the two-month initiative generated 150 minutes of earned media on Australian radio and 72 media mentions.
Globally, the idea was covered by CNBC, ABC and Fox News. The kick-off YouTube film has racked up 10,230 views and the brand’s Facebook page has 3,000 Likes and has received 22,000 visits.
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