Rexona Greatest Athlete

Rexona’s sporting heritage in Australia dates back to the 1970s with its brand message focusing on the product’s efficacy: “Rexona won’t let you down”. Its rivals in the sporting arena were not other deodorant brands but big brands like Nike. As a smaller player, its goal was thought leadership. In 2008 it had run a successful campaign featuring cricketer Ricky Ponting. The challenge was to bring to light its new global positioning and increase market share. The new positioning was ‘game ready protection’ or in the words of their new spokesman, “no matter what I’m doing or where I am, I’m always up for a game. That’s why I need a sports deodorant that keeps me fresh and dry when it’s over”.

Australian men all think they are sports experts and love talking about who they think is the best sports person. So the idea was to create a debate around the question: “Who is Australia’s greatest athlete?”

The solution was an original sports programme – a one hour TV show which ran over 8 weeks. The show involved several sporting stars from different disciplines who had to compete in various skill and physical challenges over 8 weeks. The TV show aired on the Nine TV Network every Saturday afternoon. This was supported by TV spots, print ads and an online hub that leverages the content and allowed viewers to catch up on missed episodes. There was also a YouTube full page buy out which served 1.4 million impressions in 24 hours. There was “snackable content” available on mobile as well.

Rexona experienced it’s largest ever sales growth and market share grew to 36.9%, exceeding its goal of 34%. That equates to a 2.7% increase in a mature market. Some 2.5% was directly attributable to the campaign and it delivered a 63% uplift in men aged 16-39. The show also delivered a higher viewership to Nine. Some 60% of people who watched claimed they would choose Rexona versus 38% of people who were not aware of the show. More than 1.5m videos were viewed online and 1,700 comments were made.