Surf Excel promotes the new Surf Excel Matic that can remove deeply embedded stains even without soaking clothes, through a blogger contest called ‘soak no more’. The idea of ‘Soak no more’ is open for interpretation by bloggers in their own inimitable style.
In 2005, the detergent brand broke through all the clutter to bring out its most powerful message till date – ‘Daag acche hain’ or ‘Stains are good’. While all other detergent makers were fighting stains, Surf Excel was seen embracing them as a celebration of life’s experiences.
With this new variant that promises clean clothes without being soaked, the brand is playing around ‘Soak no more’!
What does ‘Soak No More’ mean to you?
The magic of ‘not having to soak anymore’ is being banked upon. The magic ingredients in Surf Excel Matic, the vibrating molecules have the power to penetrate deeply embedded stains and remove them. And your clothes need not be soaked, hence the term ‘Soak no more’!
Like Surf Excel’s idea that “stains are good” because kids learn while getting dirty, the “soak no more” theme is now available for bloggers to explore. The blogging contest at Indiblogger, a community for Indian bloggers, encourages them to share a story, a poem, or an experience connected to “soak no more.”
You can win 3 Apple iPad 2s and 3 Blackberry Playbooks. Plus, 10 runner-ups will receive IndiSurprises! You don’t need to collect IndiVine votes, which is an internal voting system in Indiblogger, since the contest will be judged based on creativity, originality, and interaction only. It’s this ‘interaction’ element that sets this contest apart, as recent blogging contests at Indiblogger did not focus on it. Bloggers are expected to engage in addition to being creative and original.
How ‘Soak no more’ is using Social Media
A click on the blogging contest header takes you to the Surf Excel Matic Facebook page, which has more than 6 lakh fans. The content is reflective of a brand positioning that goes beyond washing clothes to experiencing life and soaking in its different flavours.
There is an array of messages relating to the importance of soaking in nature, peace, life, etc. These messages could be tip-offs in the Facebook content for an Indiblogger contestant who might be struggling to get ideas for blogging about this contest..
Twitter is being used similarly the way it has been done earlier in most of the Indiblogger contests. #SoakNoMore is the hashtag that the brand has urged the bloggers to associate while they are sharing their links on Twitter. Some of the bloggers have shown some acceptance to the hashtag while sharing blog links on Twitter. However, it is surprising that the brand with the Twitter handle SurfExcelMatic itself, has not been active from last year.
Besides engaging fans with smart tips, webinars and contests, the Facebook page also hosts a ‘My Matic, My blog’ contest on an app. The categories for this blog contest vary from family values, family fun to parenting, education and down memory lane, giving fans an opportunity to share their stories.
Offline Bloggers meet for ‘Soak No More’
Surf Excel also made sure that it integrated offline element to the entire contest by bridging the offline and online gap. Indiblogger and Surf Excel meet was conducted early this month in Bangalore. The meet saw the brand introducing the product and the concept of ‘soak no more’, apart from a fun-filled meetup with games, prizes and gift hampers. This way of reaching out to bloggers offline along with the online campaign helped bring about a brand connect.
How cool is ‘Soak No More’?
The idea of going beyond soaking clothes to soaking in the richness of life has been well-brought out in the social media platforms especially Facebook. But the idea of reaching out to the blogger community and giving them an opportunity to interpret the brand message is what stands out in this campaign.
There are 56 entries in the blogging contest already and with so many days for the contest to end on 4th September, it seems to have worked wonders for the brand. As always, one can see a healthy discussion on the Indiblogger forum and the way the contests are being judged must be appreciated. Adding the interactions factor rids the contest from bias but I would prefer it if somebody explained what ‘interaction’ meant? To me, interaction is when a blogger in addition to promoting her blog, also indulges in lively discussions around the idea of ‘soak no more’.
However, a blogging campaign should be tightly coupled with the active social media channels of the brand. In the case of Surf Excel there are some loop holes. Indiblogger has been linked to Facebook which is good but the user lands up on the Facebook timeline which is bound to get her confused. Instead if he is driven to an app where all the messages related to soaking in the richness of life is shared then it would have been much more of an easy job. Content on the Facebook wall can disappear in some time in the timeline and I hope that the brand is not expecting the user to search for it.
Twitter which is an amazing network of conversations has been missed out again. The idea to associate a hashtag is a good one but the brand itself is not being active on the network and that undermines the whole initiative on Twitter.
For a product that targets the urban consumer, the brand has done well by connecting to her offline and subsequently taking the message online and getting her to spread the word!
The Soak no more campaign works for me for its sheer differentiation in community engagement on each of the platforms. Let me know what you think?