• by Les Luchter , 11 hours ago

Celebrating the chore of taking out the garbage, trash bag marketer Glad has teamed up with “Sesame Street”’s Oscar the Grouch.

Reviving the Clorox brand’s “Don’t Get Mad, Get Glad” tagline with a new music video of Oscar’s classic song, “I Love Trash,” the collaboration with nonprofit Sesame Workshop may seem like a natural fit -- yet it’s taken a half-century to gestate.

Oscar first sang “I Love Trash” during the show's first season back in 1969, while “Don’t Get Mad, Get Glad” debuted 50 years ago with a spot starring actor James Cromwell, before taking off in the mid-80s with a campaign starring "Happy Days"’ Tom Bosley. Other celebrities followed, including Gilbert Gottfried -- but until Oscar, they’ve all been human.

You can credit Glad Marketing Director Kellie Li for the new partnership. "No one feels more strongly about trash than Oscar the Grouch, so we knew we had to reach out to ‘Sesame Street,’” she said in a statement. "Our intention behind this campaign is to show that trash doesn't have to be associated with a feeling of ick, avoidance, or grouchiness. Thanks to Glad trash bags, taking out the trash doesn't have to be a chore."

Besides the nearly two-minute-long centerpiece music video, Glad’s new campaign includes :30 and :15 cutdowns running on streaming services and social platforms. The ads feature two Glad products in particular: ForceFlex with Gain and Cherry Blossom. 

The streaming buy covers Amazon Prime, including this week’s “Thursday Night Football” game, as well as Disney+/Hulu, Paramount+ and Peacock. The social buy includes Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.

Teaser ads are also running on those platforms as well as, in Canada only, Reddit.

The campaign’s goal is “to drive renewed awareness and consideration for Glad during a key seasonal moment,” Ericka Santos, Glad brand experience lead, tells Marketing Daily. “Success will be measured through brand lift studies and sales performance analysis.”

Beyond the “seasonal moment,” Santos says the campaign is planned to run for a year, with the aim of reaching “broad retail shoppers, including adults 18-34 and 35+.”

In addition to the advertising, Glad will give away green Oscar-fur-covered tote bags this month via a sweepstakes on Instagram and TikTok.

Then, in an April tie-in with Walmart, ForceFlex with Gain bags will be sold in Oscar the Grouch-branded boxes.

Agencies working on the campaign include Omnicom’s FCB Chicago (creative) and OMD (media), Flywheel, Autumn, and Devon (Canada).