P&G Invites Consumer Videos In Swiffer Cross-Promo

Procter & Gamble is continuing the push to keep its Swiffer floor cleaning device hip.

First there was Jessica Simpson posing with the floor cleaner for her "With You" music video. Then came ads for the device set to music by Devo and Blondie. Now P&G is taking its Swiffer to YouTube to tout the cleaning device via a deal with Warner Music Group.

The cross-promotion is a consumer-generated video competition called "Break Up With Your Old Cleaning Ways and Show Us Your Moves with a Swiffer." The company is dangling $15,000 as a grand prize.

The campaign, which runs through January, encourages consumers to create and upload minute-or-less music videos to YouTube. The videos must describe how they left their old cleaning method for a new romance with Swiffer. Each video must include one of 15 "break up" songs. Warner Music Group provides consumers with 60-second snippets of the songs. Just for entering, consumers get 10 free song downloads at swiffer.com.

The Top 10 videos will be posted on YouTube, where the public will vote on the winning short between Feb. 4 and 19. Five runners-up get music downloads and Swiffer products, and Swiffer also will give away a new "break up" song of the week to 1,000 users each week from now until Feb. 20.

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Glenn Williams, external relations manager at P&G, says the effort is a free-standing project. "It was inspired by the association people make between Swiffer, music and dancing"--adding that there are several YouTube videos featuring the Swiffer that were not solicited by P%G. "Our objective is to leverage Swiffer's reputation as a fun, 'hip' cleaning tool."

He adds that the target is 20s to mid-30s. "What we've seen is that social media sites like YouTube appeal to a broad and growing range of people, from young singles to moms. In fact, moms spend a lot of time on sites like YouTube--just the person we want to reach."

Williams, who says P&G has sold at least 50 million of the cleaners, says it is one of the company's most successful products in recent years. "We have an 80% share of the quick-clean category."

The company is putting more resources into social-media campaigns. "In Home Care (which also includes P&G's Febreze, Mr. Clean, Cascade, Dawn, Joy, and Ivory), we're seeing very positive returns on investments in social media."

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