Somewhere behind all the fuss over Nkandla and the Linkin Park drama, there’s a nation trying to get on with normal life. And if you happen to be Mitchum CEO Bob Johnson, normal life is making sure that your brand is the driest thing in South Africa. As he says:
You probably already know us as the antiperspirant that offers maximum protection against wetness and odour, but I’m here to let you know about an exciting step we are taking in the deodorant game.
A big step.
A step to becoming the driest company in the country and to transform our Mitchum family into the driest employees they can be.
Are they happy about it? I don’t really care.
At Mitchum we only do dry. Seriously dry.
To this end, he’s gone through his employees’ belongings and he’s giving away anything he’s found that’s even vaguely moist – pool noodles, jet skis etc – over on their microsite. As I write, his MD’s Island Holiday is up for grabs.
Bob Johnson is serious about this.
Sadly for Bob, there’s another South African brand which stakes a claim to desiccation: Savanna Cider. And they got in touch with Bob after a recent competition on 5FM:
[soundcloud]http://soundcloud.com/user626130255/savanna-dry-this-for-size[/soundcloud]
As a goodwill gesture, Savanna sent over some of their product to Bob.
Bob was unimpressed, but responded kindly by draining the bottles and sending them back, together with another of his employees’ “wet” belongings:
Those last two lines killed me dead. Brilliant.
The Mitchum campaign is brilliant. It’s novel, it’s different and it really caught my attention. That Savanna also noted it and decided to interact has made things even better. I just hope that they can come back with a reply to Bob’s letter so that this can continue.
You can follow Bob Johnson on twitter: @CEOBobJohnson
Hats off to the guys at Ogilvy. Really nice work.
Disclosure (because you’re all ever so cynical): I have received no Mitchum or Savanna products – I just really like this campaign and wanted to share it.
UPDATE: And now they’re DFFs (Dry Friends Forever). Here’s the gossip from Bizcommunity.com
If I were an employee of Bob Johnson, I’d be rather upset that he wants to turn me into one of the “direst” employees I can be. (Line 6 of your quoted section, above.)
Jacques > Grr. Thanks.
When are you going to come up with a spellchecker that takes context into account as well?
good that the humour is not dry