Sweeten your winter and nourish your love with Dettol ProSkin Sakura Blossom Shower Cream

This post was done in collaboration with Dettol. 

Have you ever imagined you can view Japan’s most captivating cherry blossom sceneries in Hong Kong? Last winter, Dettol took you and your loved ones to a lifelike journey to Japan for a sweet, romantic and nourishing winter getaway.

“In the past two years, we have all experienced a lot of hardship coping with the pandemic. For the new launch of ProSkin Sakura Blossom Shower Cream, instead of focusing on how the coronavirus impacted our daily life and how Dettol was able to bring you protection, we want to leverage the Japanese elements as we all know how much Hong Kong people love Japan with the Sakura shower cream. We have seen a lot of couples are now in long-distance relationships. We believe this HK-Japan long-distance relationship concept would be able to create a strong emotional connection with our audience,” said Christie Lee, marketing manager of Dettol, Reckitt Hong Kong.

She further elaborated, “We want to deliver the message that Dettol ProSkin Sakura shower cream cleans and nourishes people’s skin in addition to its benefits, which are mild to skin and germ protection, helping to bring everyone together and nourish their beloved ones with no distant barriers."

One of the gimmicks was to create lifelike sakura viewings and check-in spots in town to get the audience engaged and generate viral marketing on social media. But how could they bring Japan’s cherry blossom sceneries to Hong Kong?

“Practically we cannot. However, we could realise it using an artistic way,” said Owen Au Yeung, managing director of Purple Cow Communications.

He explained, “We decided to collaborate with local famous illustrators to create Hong Kong’s first-ever 'Winter Sakura Paths' featuring three wall murals,  'Under Mount Fuji' by Pei Chung, 'Snowy Cherry Blossoms' by Omni Art and 'Showa Grocery Store’s Everyday Life' by Noble Wong, in the cultural hub of Sheung Wan to perfectly resemble the captivating scenery of cherry blossoms.”The paths have soon become one of the famous check-in spots for lovers and BFFs. “To make the moments more Instagrammable, we have also created a sakura-themed AR filter. With its petal falling effect, lovers or friends could have more fun when taking selfies and greater incentive to upload and share their photos on Facebook and Instagram, which definitely will help generate bigger noise,” said Lee.To further add a touch of romance to the campaign, the team specially created a long-distance love story with video production, showing how the new Dettol ProSkin Sakura Blossom Shower Cream cleansed and nourished both the skin and love of the couple. “The story begins with a date of a couple who are living apart. Despite the distance of 2,786km, they can still dine and share happiness together, with the use of split screen effect. And the love story ends with a surprise prepared by the boyfriend to the girlfriend –a sweet, nourishing and intimate Sakura bath, which naturally and perfectly integrates the new Dettol ProSkin Sakura Blossom Shower Cream into the love story,” said Au Yeung.

Beyond taking advantage of online platforms, Dettol has also made use of offline channels to optimize the effectiveness of promotion and engagement of customers. “We have arranged a limited-time Dettol ProSkin Sakura Truck to travel around the city, enabling the public to see, smell and touch sakura-shaped scented bubbles so as to uplift their experience of sweetness and nourishment,” said Lee.

“To promote a new product more effectively, we believe offering coupons is always a good and in dispensible strategy to help generate excitement and encourage purchases.” Therefore, on top of brining the audience an unforgettable experience, the truck also creates a call to action by offering free coupons to make the whole campaign more complete.

“Dettol will continue to strive for protecting people's health and safeguarding every important moment. We will continue to expand our school coverage for Dettol Health Academy and educate local students to establish hand washing habits for preventing germs transmission and inspire their parents on family hygiene and, in turn, contribute to a healthier community together. We will also be launching new products to address different consumer needs, so stay tuned and keep following news from us!” Lee concluded.