No sweat, promises Wheel’s latest campaign

Wheel targets the smaller towns and promises to ease the housewife’s life with its effortless cleaning premise

Promises are aplenty these days. First they said you wouldn’t need to use the blue liquid to whiten your whites. Then they said you wouldn’t need to worry about your hands going rough using detergent. Now they say you won’t even sweat while washing your clothes. We’re talking about Wheel’s latest ad campaign.

Active Wheel Easy Wash has been enhanced with a formula that ensures that very little effort is needed to wash clothes. “The benefit that the detergent offered was less effort. Our take on it was no sweat. From there was born the National No Paseena Commission (NNPC),” says Virat Tandon, senior vice-president on Hindustan Unilever (HUL) at Lowe.

The market truth is that it is the wife who washes the family’s clothes and it is the husband who buys the washing powder or soap. So, the man should be the one buying a better product to make his wife’s life easier.

The TV commercial is about how the NNPC, which is a women led commission, arrests any irresponsible husband who makes his wife sweat washing clothes.

Vishal Gupta, regional brand director, fabric cleaning, HUL, says, “Wheel is targeted at SEC C, D and E. We term this consumer as a stressed and pressed consumer.” The consumer in this socioeconomic classification has limited money and no domestic help, so does all the household chores himself. “With Active Wheel Easy Wash, we wanted the product to do more and the consumer to do less,” says Gupta.

“We were asked to underscore the fact that the new detergent needs less effort. And that meant less time spent on the job, so washing would not be as tedious and tiring a chore as it was. We came up with the NNPC,” says Ramkrishna Gopi Yadav, creative director, Lowe.

Thomas Xavier, chairman and national creative director, Orchard, agrees with the basic proposition of a woman sweating over washing clothes. “Wheel has gone a couple of notches above what it has been doing in the past,” says Xavier. “But it could have done so in a more sensitive way, without making the consumer look like a caricature.”

KV Sridhar, NCD, Leo Burnett, offers a different take: “What the ad says in the end is that you’re only helping her to do her job better. It would have been more liberating to see the man doing the laundry or helping her do the laundry,” he says. In Sridhar’s opinion, if there is a social context, it should be progressive and truthful and not regressive as in showing the woman as a slave to household chores.

Gupta of HUL says, “We wanted the ad to inspire the husband to buy a detergent that helped his wife.”

Rajeev Raja, executive creative director, Bates 141, says the idea of giving women an easier laundry routine was interesting, but the execution of the ad is not impressive. “It could have been a bit more rewarding to the consumer, unless they wanted to keep the realism quotient high,” he says.

“I’m glad the focus has shifted from dirt to the husband,” chuckles Satbir Singh, NCD, Euro RSCG. He feels the ad depicts exaggerated angst, especially because of its activist stance. But all in all, he says, it’s definitely a memorable ad.

Wheel’s earlier campaign for Wheel Gold was along similar lines, showing that laundry could be done in 10 minutes. “The brand idea is the same. In the previous campaign, the focus was on the time factor. This campaign is about the effort,” explains Gupta.

The campaign is supported by radio, which has an anthem about the NNPC. Activation is being carried out in smaller towns with women squads going around to promote the product. The women conduct ‘morchas’, saying that if they find a woman sweating while washing clothes, they will take her husband to task. Posters are also being used.

The TVC has been shot in Kolkata and all the characters are theatre artistes from the city, except two characters whom you see in the last frame. The film was shot in four days by Chrome Pictures. The 40 second and 30 second TVCs are being aired on TV, while the 60 seconder is being played in theatres.