Energy saving, the Rhubarb and Custard way
Penetration of dishwashers in the UK market is at about 36% vs. the European average of 41%. By joining the UK’s number one dishwasher detergent brand – Finish, with the UK leader in dishwasher sales – Bosch, is an initiative that will work towards step-changing the pace of dishwasher penetration in the UK from +1% per year to >+2% per year.
The use of a dishwasher can significantly reduce the amount of water and energy used in a household for the simple task of washing up. Finish and Bosch brands have worked together over recent years to highlight the benefits of dishwasher usage focusing specifically on the benefit of superb cleaning results, hygiene and more recently water saving.
The use of a dishwasher has not been promoted, or seen as a positive household appliance to use in the context of energy saving. Purple Frog were asked to help educate consumers by focusing on the energy and water-saving benefits of dishwashers and encourage them to consider how energy-rich the every day chore of washing up is and how it could be significantly reduced.
Our brief was to create a TV commercial that would initially be aired regionally, targeting all non-dishwasher owners, plus dishwasher owners who currently don’t use their appliance in the belief that it is uneconomical in terms of energy consumption. With a small budget to get across the energy and water-saving message we created a simple 20 second animated commercial in the style of Bob Godfrey’s Henry’s Cat and Rhubarb and Custard. The idea behind this was to focus on the benefit of using a Bosch dishwasher and depart from images of a housewife washing up in the sink and the clichéd and distracting stories of wanting more time with the family.
The commercial aired in the London Meridian region on ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 over a five week period. The resulting spikes in sales of this campaign are currently being calculated.
