TAXI DELIVERS KNOCKOUT PUNCH - Strategy

Thrun describes the effort, which began in
April 2007 and was refreshed in January, as
“one of the strongest pieces we have.” Now,
this “search and reapply” poster campaign’s
insights are also being applied throughout the
U.S. and Western Europe.
Thrun says Haftchenary’s efforts were critical
in uncovering the trial barrier insights and
testing the creative executions. “He truly
lived our motto of ‘Consumer is the Boss,’” he
says. As did Grey New York. “They were with
us all the way along the consumer research
journey to turn insight into action. I have had
a great team working with me to help deliver
the results.”
And the Fabric Refresher success fuelled
the air-care expansion strategy. “It’s a new
category for Canadians in general, and for us,”
explains Thrun. “We spent a lot of time talking
to consumers about what they liked and
what they were looking for, and found odour
elimination worked well in air care, so we had
a fairly strong platform.
“We had to shake up the category with
design expertise,” recalls Thrun of the
initial 2004 air-care forays. “Air Effects, our
instant action product, came into the market
with a fresh look, and we developed design
trademarks around the delivery system.” P&G
opted for a much lighter delivery, whereas its
competitors were typical sprays. “Air Effects
quickly became a dominant player,” he says.
And in the case of Scentstories, the innovation
was designing a product that would deliver a
continuous scent experience.
12 STRATEGY November 2008
Most recently, the brand extended into
the candle biz with Febreze Candles.
Again, Thrun attributes success to a
Canadian-specifi c value claim designed
for comparative shoppers in this crowded
category, which touts “up to 30 hours of
Febreze Freshness.” Packaging tweaks that
stress “eliminates odors and freshens” as
well as duration are among the Canadian
insights being picked up globally.
And while Thrun says P&G can often use a
single platform, he and brand manager Marc
Aube, along with BCP, created Quebec-specifi c
marcom to compete in the particularly
competitive candles category in that market.
“In Quebec, they enjoy more of an emotional
connection,” says Thrun, explaining the use
of Quebec personality Clodine Desrochers for
market-specifi c spots created by BCP prior to
the summer 2007 product launch.
Overall, Thrun attributes Canada’s success in
beating major markets like the U.S., U.K.
and Japan in driving Febreze’s growth to talking
to Canadians. “We spend time understanding
the consumer as the user, and as the shopper.”
And what were some of the insights they
uncovered? “The key piece for us is that it’s
a little more similar to the beauty category,”
he says. “Consumers are looking for an
experience. They like to spend some time
shopping it and experiencing it.” So the
challenge became “how to deliver news to the
category – new products and experiences.”
The most recent marketing eureka for air
care came directly from research on fabric
refreshers. “I was practically living with
Regional celebrity Clodine Desrochers helped the
brand strike a chord with Quebecers
consumers over the past year and a half,”
explains Thrun. He and his team consistently
heard that people wanted a comfortable
environment, and that meant fi nding “natural”
air-freshening solutions.
In pursuit of that, not surprisingly, people
love to open the window. “It’s uncanny how
many times we heard that analogy,” says
Thrun. So they looked at bringing that to life.
“We had just launched the energized
continuous action biz,” recalls Thrun, referring
to plug-ins and battery-powered air enhancers
such as NOTICEables. As they were looking
for an opportunity to tie all the Febreze
www.strategymag.com
products together, Thrun says the open
window refrain kept cropping up. And being
Canada, “it came to my mind, what do you do
when it’s 30 below?”
That led to positioning Febreze as the less
chilling winter alternative to opening the
window. To catch the attention of harried
shoppers, an eye-catching campaign was
mounted that made the end game really clear.
“Let in the ’breze,” with its wintry window
imagery, positioned the benefi ts in a whimsical
way that was unusual for the category, and
earned share of voice leadership for P&G. At
retail, the program also earned exponential
display and support.
SIX QUESTIONS
If you had to appear on a reality
show, which one would it be?
The Amazing Race. I have been to 85
countries, and I love adventure travel.
How would you describe your
management style?
Servant leadership. I work for my
people instead of the other way
around. I need them to do great
things that I couldn’t do on my own.
All-time favourite Canadian ad?
“I am Canadian.” I like how the ad
spoke to Canadians in a relevant,
heart-opening way. It may also be a
bit of my Canadian pride, having
travelled so much.
As a child, what did you want to be
when you grew up?
I always wanted to be an airline pilot,
but I had glasses and back then you
needed 20/20 vision.
First job?
I started as an entrepreneur at 15
and owned a business for six years
prior to joining P&G. It was a
landscaping business that I sold
before taking a year off to travel.
Most important thing you learned
from a mentor?
The most important mentor in my
life is my father. Despite my drive to
succeed, he always encouraged me
to enjoy the ride along the way. My
choice to take a year off to travel was
in large part due to his advice. It was
one of the best decisions I ever made.