Marico's Travel Protect spray 'shushes' complaining surfaces

Don't miss the scientist in the white coat, 'sshhh'ing complaints with a spray of the product.

In a new campaign launched by Marico Limited and BBH India, surfaces raise their voices. The car seat, the toilet seat, bags, parcel and work desk, all complain about being touched, sneezed and coughed on. The ads show their incessant complaints being silenced by Marico’s Travel Protect and House Protect surface disinfectants.

The two products were launched back in July. Both are available in easy to spray formats, contain 77 per cent alcohol and help sanitise surfaces immediately by killing 99.99 per cent of germs. Both the variants are effective against viruses, bacteria and fungi on multiple surfaces without the need to wipe them down after spraying.

Conceptualised and executed by BBH India, the campaign intends to communicate the efficacy and convenience of both the variants. A 360-degree integrated effort, the campaign includes both ATL and BTL ideas covering all consumer touchpoints.

The linchpin of the campaign is a series of five films that will be aired across digital media and television. Along with the films, there are banner ads on e-commerce websites, GIFs across social channels and six seconders, which will help build relevance.

For its Protect range, Marico has partnered with housing finance company HDFC and cab aggregator Ola to help them continue to offer safe services to their customers and employees.

Marico has been introducing products in the hygiene segment since the Coronavirus lockdown started back in March. It has launched products like Mediker Hand Sanitizer, a fruit and vegetable cleanser Veggie Clean and a complete personal care range called KeepSafe.

Commenting on Travel Protect's new campaign, Koshy George, chief marketing officer, Marico, said, “As we move towards unlocking the country, rigorous hygiene practices will be an integral part of our routine. Recognising the need of the hour, we launched the Protect range of surface disinfectant sprays. Our awareness campaign, conceptualised by BBH, is an effort to highlight the importance of proper hygiene practices, while emphasising the ease of using Marico’s Travel Protect while venturing out.”

Russell Barrett, CEO and CCO, BBH-PWW India, added, “We chose to use humour for this campaign as there are already way too many things to be truly worried about in these times. Marico’s House Protect and Travel Protect silence the voices that worry about the potential dangers of any surface, and are an essential part of our new reality.”

Commenting on the rapid evolution of products in the hygiene segment, Prabhakar Mundkur, a brand strategist and consultant, states that the sanitiser market is exploding globally. It is expected to grow to $3.3 billion in 2020. It’s no surprise that players like Marico and others have entered the fray.

“In fact, the global market for hygiene is expected to grow at a compound rate of 20 per cent until 2027. COVID-19 has quite irrefutably brought back the concern for ‘safety’ into the spotlight,” he says.

Mundkur references Abraham Maslow’s theory in psychology – the hierarchy of needs. Maslow called hygiene (safety in this case) a basic psychological need for humans after they had satisfied the need for basic physical needs like air, food and water.

“We have moved from non-essentials to essentials in a big way during the pandemic. The need for safety has sent the demand for hygiene, cleaning and staples soaring. While non-essential categories have slumped,” he mentions.

Mundkur calls the commercials functional in nature, stating that, perhaps, it is all that is required at this stage. “The ads establish the new brand name, and establish its credentials as being effective, which is what the commercials do,” he concludes.