Tide inserts Kumail Nanjiani into messy viral videos for bigger pods push

Dive Brief:

• A new Tide campaign taps actor Kumail Nanjiani to highlight the myriad situations where people need more laundry detergent, per details shared with Marketing Dive. Saatchi & Saatchi NY assisted.
• The effort promotes overhauled Tide Power Pods that now come with 85% more detergent per pack. In a video rolling out today (March 17), the “Welcome to Chippendales” star is inserted into scenes that show messy people or herald messes to come, such as a couple finding out they’re expecting triplets.
• The “Gonna Need More Tide” spot running on digital and TV is complemented by memes, GIFs and lenses on social platforms that encourage consumers to share their own user-generated content (UGC) about life’s less clean moments.

Dive Insight:

Tide is using social media insights to inform its latest campaign, which depicts a range of scenarios where more laundry detergent could be useful. The video elements of the campaign draw on Nanjiani’s casual charm as he emphasizes all the ways in which people are going to need more Tide, including in the chase for likes and online virality.

“Gonna Need More Tide” edits the actor into several videos that have previously taken the internet by storm, such as one where a baby sits on a dinner table while being covered in peanut butter by his older sister. The YouTube post from six years ago has racked up over 24 million views.

Tide appears to be chasing the next viral hit of its own by encouraging shoppers to share experiences that mandated heavy-duty cleanups for a UGC-oriented aspect of the push. In the announcement, the marketer specifically called out TikTok as helping drive the cultural trends it’s trying to tap into.

Tide has seen success with celebrity-led marketing that plays on viewer expectations and a sense of familiarity. A Super Bowl campaign from several years ago showed what initially appeared to be commercials from other product categories, like beer, before David Harbour interrupted to let people know it was yet another Tide ad.

The Nanjiani-starring creative comes as parent company Procter & Gamble switches up some of its internal marketing approach. The Cincinnati-based firm, which also owns Downy and Bounce, has in-housed more of its media buying operations, including in the fabric care category. The strategy has resulted in $65 million in annual savings and more frequency for the segment, executives recently said.