NFL now means 'Not for Laundry,' in new Tide campaign

The NFL has a new meaning, “Not For Laundry.” At least that's what Tide suggests in a campaign enlisting the league, Peyton Manning, NBC, Gwen Stefani and others for a new push that aims to ensure no one misses football over a little thing like laundry. The TV, digital and social campaign breaks Sept. 8 during the first Sunday Night Football broadcast of the year. The work from Woven, a multi-agency shop created last year for Procter & Gamble Co.’s North America Fabric Care business, starts with a spot where Manning announces that the NFL has declared Tuesday the new night for laundry, so no one misses football. After that is a faux promo for "The Voice," where judge Gwen Stefani complains about the NFL’s plan stepping on her time slot. Subsequently Manning returns with a 30-second apology on behalf of the NFL, where he says, “We would never intentionally ruin a young singer’s dream.” Then comes another faux promo in which the cast of NBC’s "Superstore" grouses about the NFL possibly shifting laundry night to Thursday, while urging shoppers at their faux Walmart to stock up on Tide for Sunday night washing, apparently unaware of the brand’s hand in bankrolling all this. In yet another spot to be used as a promo for future NBC Sunday Night broadcasts, Baltimore Ravens running back Mark Ingram plays a crazed herald, tapping on a man’s window from outside to repeatedly warn him “Sunday is coming,” so he can get laundry done in advance. Tide has used a similar approach in prior years of incorporating on-air talent from Fox into ads for the Super Bowl and in-season broadcasts in 2018. The current effort stems from a pretty simple insight, that NFL can also mean “Not For Laundry,” says Andrea Diquez, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi, New York, and of Woven, which also incorporates creatives from sibling Leo Burnett, WPP’s Grey and other agencies. Powell Communications, Taylor and Marina Maher Communications are handling PR and sports communications. Sunday night, besides being when NBC broadcasts NFL games, is actually the busiest laundry night in the U.S., says Amy Krehbiel, associate brand director for North American laundry at P&G. That helped germinate the idea. NBC was happy to get involved and make talent available for the creative as “an opportunity for fans to see our top NBC stars paired with NFL athletes like never before,” says Mark Marshall, president of advertising sales and partnerships for NBCUniversal. Tuesday wouldn’t be a bad laundry alternative for football fans, since it’s the one night not even lesser-conference NCAA games are on TV, and the NFL hasn’t had a regularly scheduled Tuesday game in nine years. Of course, Tuesday would still put laundry on a collision course with other NBC programming. And, while it’s pretty easy to multitask laundry and NFL watching any time, by, um, utilizing the commercial breaks, no one involved wanted to suggest that. “The idea is whatever night is laundry night, it’s got to be Tide,” Diquez says. “We want to put Tide into people’s homes every night of the week and be part of American culture.”

NFL now means 'Not For Laundry' in new Tide campaign

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