• by Larissa Faw , March 16, 2020

Beauty company Beekman 1802 has launched a campaign reminding people to properly wash their hands. 

While a number of new campaigns have been put on hold for fear of seeming tone deaf during the coronavirus pandemic , the company’s “Time To Wash Hands” social media initiative, developed with agency SS+K, has a relevant message. Public health and media outlets have stated repeated for months now that proper and frequent handwashing is one measure people can take to potentially avoid catching the virus. 

The campaign features the @TimeToWashHands social media account which offers fun and periodic reminders to wash hands every two hours. 

Messages include, “It's 10pm. Do you know where your sink is? Go wash your hands” and “What if ASMR was just people washing their hands with soap and water for 20 seconds?” 

While there is no overt advertising in these clips, a few messages show Beekman 1802 products in the background. And yes, the company does sell soap.

“We were seeing a lot of advice to wash your hands but realized it wasn’t always easy to remember to do as often as we should,” explains Stevie Archer, executive creative director, SS+K. “We wanted to create a super simple way for people to get regular reminders all throughout the day.”

Select influential partners are helping support the effort by sharing short video clips of themselves washing their hands for 20 seconds. Katie Couric, for instance, was shown singing My Sharona as she lathered up at her sink. These supporters are not being paid for their messages, says Archer. “We’re all in this together and a lot of people, just like us, simply want to do their part to help spread the word and stop the spread of the virus.”

To further spread the awareness, all Beekman 1802 channels post about the @TimeToWashHands account regularly. 

And Beekman 1802 founders Josh Kilmer and Brent Ridge have been creating daily “Happy Birthday” song posts to remind people how long to wash their hands, and get more people involved.

SS+K pitched the beauty company with the idea thinking it was a perfect fit for its brand and community. 

The initiative originally started with just the Twitter account @TimeToWashHands because it was the easiest platform to get up and running, and it allows followers to easily sign up for regular notifications, says Archer. The campaign has since added an Instagram account after enough content had been developed.