As part of an ongoing series of conversations with 2017 Effie-winning marketers, Alan Hart talks with Pete Carter who, as marketing director at Procter & Gamble, heads up the Pantene business.
Carter talks in detail about Pantene’s “#DadDo” campaign. The 2016 campaign was unveiled, somewhat unconventionally, leading up to and during Super Bowl 50 (the league eschewed the use of a Roman numerals that year to highlight the game’s golden anniversary). The campaign utilized a series of how-to videos and in-store activations before culminating in a 30-second spot that did not air during the game. Carter describes it as a Super Bowl spot without the Super Bowl buy.
One aspect of the campaign Carter touches on is that they knew they had a powerful idea but were faced with logistical challenges in getting it in front of people during the advertising industry’s highest-profile extravaganza. Ultimately, Carter and Pantene went for it. Carter summed up how they arrived at their decision: “You know what? We’re going to do this…we’re just going to find a different way.”
They did find a way, and it paid off big. The “#DadDo” campaign took home a 2017 Effie.
Highlights from this week’s “Marketing Today” podcast include:
- A natural fit: An overview of Pantene’s “#DadDo” campaign. (1:53)
- Basing decisions on judgment, not data. (8:57)
- Carter defines marketing effectiveness: “When the consumer chooses our brand in preference to others. In other words: purchase.” (10:51)
- “Getting people to turn toward our brand.” (14:11)
- “I love creative people, and the way they think,” says Carter. (17:07)
- An ongoing marketing challenge: “We have been susceptible to the shiny, new object.” (22:55)