For the last few years men’s hygiene brands have used the sports space to lift awareness with a series of fun and engaging campaigns, the latest of which was their “Smelf” campaign starring All-Pro Wide receiver Greg Jennings for Old Spice. It was the next in a series of fun and irreverent campaigns that men’s brands have used to try and generate buzz and ROI in a very competitive and growing space, one which needs to capture the eye of the female purchaser sometimes as much as the male.
Before we had “smelf,” we did have the Pittsburgh Steelers Troy Polamalu using his expansive head of hair for “Head and Shoulders” as well, a campaign which certainly generated interest and innovation for the Procter and Gamble brand as well.
Now the one upsmanship in the space goes back to the diamond from the gridiron, and shays back to Head and Shoulders again.
H and S will kick off another fun play on words on opening day with their “Season of the Whiff,” which will go coast to coast when MLB gets started this week. The campaign will be across all forms of media, and will be integrated into game broadcasts in 11 markets, encouraging fans to use the #Whiff hashtag with their team’s Twitter handle each time a pitcher strikes out an opponent.
The brand won’t just be looking for social engagement either…it will put $1 for each strikeout to Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) and can push social media by giving the MLB club whose fans rack up the most #Whiff tweets monthly an additional $10,000 for local chapters.
Head & Shoulders will also take an active role in New York, the home of this year’s MLB All-Star Game in July. By wrapping subway cars as part of the outreach. To make sure they also get ample play out west, the brand by tapping Los Angeles Angels pitcher C.J. Wilson and All-Star outfielder Josh Hamilton as spokespeople for the campaign.
The whiff is a great play on words for the diehard fan, and by throwing in a charity component the campaign will have legs outside the traditional fan engagement property that can sometimes get lost in the programs that MLB offers up. It is a catchy, convenient and widespread program that has appeal both locally and nationally, and is a next great step in the men’s healthcare category for P and G.
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