Clearasil

Parent Company Reckitt Benckiser

Category Personal Care brands - Skin care

Sector FMCG

Tagline/ SloganFeel the difference; Don’t just look awesome; The

science of looking awesome

USP Clear skin in just three days

STP

Segment Personal care-Acne treatment

Target Group Adolescents and college youth

PositioningFeel improvement in skin problems right from first

application.

SWOT Analysis

Strength

1. The top-selling brand of skin care and acne medication

2. RB has been ranked as one of the Most Innovative Companies in the World

3. Inexpensive and high quality product4. First dermatological brand created especially for

younger skin to fight against pimples5. Strong R &D team with constant product

innovations

6. Wide range of products and good availability & distribution

Weakness

1.Stiff segment with a lot of brands competing for market share

2. Limited penetration in some of the major growing economies

Opportunity 1.Senior citizen population is a large growing market

segment which should be given focus2.A potential huge market has been spotted on men

cosmetic sales

Threats

1. Presence of strong competition2.Unstable demand-price ratio3.Price war with other brands

Competition

Competitors

1. Ponds2.Loreal3.Vicco

4.Himalaya

NEW RESULTS FOR CLEARASIL

Well-known skincare brand Clearasil has recently repositioned their brand to appeal to young adults instead of young teens and to profile the skin care range rather than the association to the topical treatment of spots. But how to drive this message to the market? Through a social media strategy created by Euro RSCG 4D and an activation campaign conceptualised and implemented by Havas Sports & Entertainment. The results were astounding with thousands of young adults visiting and liking the Facebook.com/ClearasilSouthAfrica page and university students countrywide talking about the Clearasil Awesome Face of the Day: Varsity Challenge.

Originally a brand synonymous with pimply teenagers, Clearasil has harnessed cutting edge technology and knowledge to create a skin care range for teenagers and young adults. The brief was this: to change the Clearasil messaging to one that stated clearly that their products offer a complete skin care solution. In order to reposition the evolved brand, the Clearasil Awesome Face of the Day was created.

Euro RSCG 4D created the App for the competition which is currently running on Facebook.com/ClearasilSouthAfrica. The challenge however was how to get high traffic volumes to the Clearasil site which was a start-up site. Havas Sports & Entertainment conceptualised, managed and implemented the Varsity Challenge leg of the Clearasil Awesome Face of the Day. Havas Sports & Entertainment brokered a deal with five universities nationwide which saw the Varsity Challenge run in activations over two phases. The participating tertiary institutions were the University of Johannesburg, Free State University, Stellenbosch University, Tshwane University of Technology and Varsity College Sandton.

The activations immediately instilled brand presence, brand awareness and gained Clearasil new followers on the Facebook page. The right communication elements were essential to the marketing mix and so to give a face to the Clearasil products, 200 vibrant, dynamic and confident girls were selected to compete for the ultimate prize – an all

expenses paid trip to the One Young World Summit in Zurich, Switzerland, to meet and debate issues important to the youth of today with the likes of Wyclef Jean, Kofi Annan and Arch Bishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu.

Phase 1 of the competition was an inter-residence competition run at each university. Approximately 40 girls per Varsity canvassed votes for their picture on the Clearasil Awesome Face of the Day App created by 4D Euro. The winner, in addition to qualifying for Phase 2 of the competition, was credited with raising R10 000 for charity, which was donated on behalf of Clearasil.

Phase 2 of the competition saw the 5 finalists competing for the space as a delegate at the One Young World Summit. To increase awareness of the competition and drive voters to the facebook page, each contestant received personalised business cards to distribute to potential voters and some contestants posted videos on YouTube. Word of mouth played a major role in the campaign with friends telling friends telling friends. The cards also had how- to-vote info which drove thousands of voters to ‘like’ the page. This, coupled with new posts via the Facebook.com/ClearasilSouthAfrica page, ensured that the page ‘likes’ grew exponentially. Prizes in the form of Clearasil hampers and shopping centre vouchers ensured that a high level of interest was maintained for the duration of the competition.

The campaign was not without challenges, but these were addressed immediately and solutions were found. As the voting application sits outside of facebook, the App was not compatible with smartphones. A mobile phone application was developed to allow more users to vote. Unfortunately this did allow users to bypass “liking” the Clearasil facebook page, but there was a still a steady increase in visitors to the site. During the 8 week duration of the activation the Clearasil page received 7826 likes. The winner, Thato Choma from Varsity College, amassed close to 10 000 votes.

“It’s great working with a team of people who have a deep commitment to the Clearasil brand - an understanding of where it’s come from, where it’s at and where it needs to be. The concept and activation for Clearasil was “out of the box”. A great synergy of strategic and creative thinking,” says Karen PooleAccounts Manager at Havas Sports & Entertainment.