Nearly a century after inventing the soap opera on
radio in 1933, Procter & Gamble plans to bring the genre into the app world next year with “The Golden Pear Affair.”
While radio’s “Ma Perkins” (you can
listen to an early 15-minute episode here), was sponsored by Oxydol, a detergent brand no longer
owned by P&G, “The Golden Pear Affair” will be “presented” by Native, a 10-year-old beauty and personal care brand P&G bought in 2017. Native products don't actually
include bar soaps, though there are are facial and body washes, deodorants, body lotions and scrubs, and facial moisturizers.
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Native has teamed with P&G Studios and Dentsu Entertainment on
the “microsoap,” whose 50 episodes -- each under three minutes long, but “feature length” when strung together -- will be produced by Pixie USA, a brand-new company dedicated
to making branded microsoaps and other “microdramas” in a vertical format designed for smartphones.
Such microdramas, recovering from the mammoth 2020 failure of Jeffrey
Katzenberg and Meg Whitman’s Quibi service, are now catching fire. According Informa’s Omdia, the format will account for $11 billion in global revenues this year, albeit mostly in
China, with the U.S. in second place.
ReelShort, Shorts and similar platforms dominate the market, but “The Golden Pear Affair” says it will launch on “major social
platforms” early in 2026 before transitioning to its own proprietary app sometime after that.
Promising “fast-paced storytelling with cliff-hangers and character arcs,” the
series will align with a limited-edition line from Native called Global Favors, according to a press release from Dentsu announcing the series.
Global Favors, set to launch late this
month through Native’s website and Target, will “feature fragrances [pear, perhaps?] inspired by locations from around the globe to take you on an indulgent adventure without having to
leave your shower or bathroom,” said Dentsu. “These scents and Native’s commitment to clean formulas, inspired the film’s overall plot line and key moments, taking you on a
whirlwind romantic adventure.”
“The Golden Pear Affair,” said the press release, will “tell a story that brings to life Native’s charismatic brand personality and
its clean and effective beauty products—all centered around the brand’s message that ‘you deserve better, you deserve clean products that actually work.’
Marketing
Daily could get little more information out of Dentsu, including details on how Native will be referenced or alluded to on the minisoap. Native advertising, perhaps?
In the press
release, at least, Native CEO Chris Talbott mentioned “fun nods to the collection woven throughout the storyline.”
Talbott added that, “Just like our scents take you on a
journey around the world, without leaving your bathroom, this series follows characters on their own adventure of self-discovery and confidence…We’re always looking for innovative ways to
meet our consumers where they are, and this social-first series is the perfect format for storytelling… the perfect canvas to showcase how the right scent can be transformative.”
Two microdrama veterans, Nick Ritacco and Aloyna Real, will star in “The Golden Pear Affair.”
Dentsu revealed the show’s key art and tagline – “Every
scent hides a secret” -- via the poster pictured above and said that a trailer will be released in January, but couldn’t provide any additional information on promotional or marketing
plans.
Dentsu Entertainent has previously teamed with P&G Studios on two Gillette-presented sports documentaries: Fox Sports’ “Culture of Winning: Polynesian
Football Pride” in April and HBO’s “The Cost of Winning” in 2020.
In April, Dentsu Ventures, a sister company under the advertising holding company, invested in Emole,
the company behind a microdrama app called Bump.