• by Karl Greenberg , April 15, 2009

Household paint maker Dutch Boy is launching the first paint that removes odors. The product -- Dutch Boy Refresh, developed over a three-year period with Arm & Hammer -- is benefiting from one of the largest campaigns ever by Dutch Boy, a division of Cleveland, Ohio-based Sherwin Williams Co. Diversified Brands.

Central to the effort, which includes TV spots on network and cable starting in May, is an integrated Web campaign that includes social media, expandable banner ads, search optimization, and a consumer-content campaign that asks people to submit stories about their worst-smelling room for a chance at $5,000 and 50 gallons of the new product.

The promotion "My House Stinks: Rate The Rooms," runs through September at www.myhousestinks.com. Consumers can upload an image of the offending room along with a 200-word essay about why the room is the worst-smelling in the U.S. The Web site also has a section, "Rate The Rooms," where consumers can vote on the rooms they think needs renovating the most.

Second- and third-place prizes are $2,500 and 25 gallons of Dutch Boy Refresh and $1,000 and 10 gallons of Refresh paint, respectively. Six random drawings of those who vote online will also be held for six months. Four voters will be randomly selected each month and presented with four gallons of Refresh paint and a Dutch Boy fan deck.

Jose Martinez, director of marketing, do-it-yourself paint brands for Diversified Brands at Sherwin-Williams, says the new product was actually soft-launched in August last year.

He says the new Refresh paint has a $4 premium over regular Dutch Boy paints, but that it won't matter. "We found from research that consumers [say they] are willing to pay a lot more, but we knew from experience that once they have to pull out their wallets and pay, that changes, so we went middle-of-road on price."

About the campaign, he says, "we are spending more in the second quarter than we spent on TV all last year and it's all on Refresh."

The real pull will be the viral nature of the digital campaign, anchored by the contest. "We are spending a lot of the digital budget on the expandable banners, which allow you to sign up for the contest, but you never leave the site you are on."

The company sent out an RFP to its current agency partners as well as new ones. "It was a good competition, but [Cleveland-based] Zig Marketing understood the Web campaign as comprehensive and truly integrated." One feature of the digital effort is at www.dutchboy.com/refresh, where visitors can tour a virtual set of rooms, drag odors into the spaces and make them disappear by painting the rooms with Refresh.

The TV spot for Refresh, which will run on prime time targeting 25- to-54-year-olds, has a couple visiting a home that smells of pets. Then the ad states that 64% of people don't notice odors in their own homes. And asks, "Are you one of them?" The first flight starts May 4 and runs through to Memorial Day. Tag: "Adds Beauty, Eliminates Household Odors."

Martinez says the company is also giving the product to home-renovation, pet and decorating bloggers.

The product is also co-branded with Arm & Hammer -- not a small point, says Martinez, who adds the company's research suggested the visibility of the brand lent legitimacy to Dutch Boy's claims. "The believability in the product was very low until we introduced the Arm & Hammer logo into packaging."

He says others may come up with the idea of a paint that eliminates odors, but that Sherwin-Williams benefits from first-mover status. "The one who strikes first drives harder. We are going to own that space for many years."