packaged goods

Mr. Clean Gives Others A Chance

After being on the job for decades, Mr. Clean is giving someone else the chance to shave the pate and don the earring. 

The 60-year-old brand is launching a search for “The Next Mr. Clean,” with one person getting the chance to win $20,000 and to appear in a digital calendar next year. The contest is being positioned as a long-deserved “vacation” for the brand icon.

The contest, which will include live auditions in New York and Los Angeles, as well as YouTube solicitations, is part of the brand’s ongoing effort to reconnect with its iconic past, which began with a revamped jingle appearing in advertising in July, says Kevin Wenzel, associate brand manager for North America. 

“We’re going to continue that by celebrating Mr. Clean, the man,” Wenzel tells Marketing Daily. “He’s an icon, and we’ve been hearing for years the people dress like him, have social media conversations about him. This is a chance to show it.”

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At the center of the promotion is a digital video starring heartthrob and actor Kellan Lutz, auditioning for the part himself. Lutz states his qualification as washing his car regularly and polishing his Teen Choice awards every day, and because “I’ve never had a dirty thought in my entire life.” However, Lutz has trouble with the jingle, and is later discovered to have eaten some food after accidentally dropping it on the floor. He’s eventually turned away (not before shaving his head for the part, however). The video closes with Lutz encouraging people to go to TheNextMrClean.com to enter the contest themselves.

“He has a great personality and a physique that fits with the next Mr. Clean,” Wenzel says of Lutz. 

The video will run on digital channels, including YouTube, and the company will promote the contest through its social channels as well. Though the contest will only be open for a month, the content generated from it will likely be used for the brand’s marketing efforts through the next year, Wenzel says.

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