Crest and Oral B: Veggie Halloween
Crest and Oral-B sought a creative way to engage North American families during Halloween, a candy-heavy holiday that conflicted with their cavity-fighting mission. They aimed to generate widespread conversation and position the brands as enabling indulgence rather than restricting it.
Creative Idea
Brands replaced candy with healthy treats, capturing kids' hilarious disgust, enabling guilt-free indulgence.
Crest and Oral-B humorously replaced Halloween candy with "healthy" veggie treats, capturing kids' disgusted reactions to dramatize the horror of a candy-less holiday. This clever stunt gave parents permission to let kids indulge, while subtly positioning the brands as the solution for enjoying sweets responsibly.
Creative Strategy Deconstructed
Company
Crest and Oral-B could credibly offer solutions for maintaining oral health, allowing consumers to enjoy treats without guilt.
Category
Oral care brands typically warn against sugar and cavities, often promoting abstinence from unhealthy treats.
Customer
Parents and kids wanted to fully enjoy Halloween's candy tradition without constant guilt or fear of dental consequences.
Culture
Halloween's cultural significance as a candy-centric holiday provided a perfect, high-stakes backdrop for the experiment.
Company
Crest and Oral-B could credibly offer solutions for maintaining oral health, allowing consumers to enjoy treats without guilt.
Category
Oral care brands typically warn against sugar and cavities, often promoting abstinence from unhealthy treats.
Strategy:
Reframe indulgence guilt by enabling enjoyment with responsible post-consumption care.
Customer
Parents and kids wanted to fully enjoy Halloween's candy tradition without constant guilt or fear of dental consequences.
Culture
Halloween's cultural significance as a candy-centric holiday provided a perfect, high-stakes backdrop for the experiment.
Strategy:
Reframe indulgence guilt by enabling enjoyment with responsible post-consumption care.
Results
The video generated instant conversation online. In only a few days, the video attained over 7 million views on YouTube (7,300,000 views specifically noted). It received heavy media coverage from around the world, including features in the Los Angeles Times, Adweek, Bloomberg Businessweek, and BuzzFeed. Adweek.com featured it as one of their Top 10 Advertising Stories of 2013 and named it "Ad of the Day: Crest and Oral-B Make the Year's Meanest, Funniest, Grossest, Cutest Halloween Spot." The campaign was described as "making for one very sweet Halloween."
7,300,000
YouTube views
Top 10
Adweek.com Advertising Stories of 2013
Ad of the Day
Adweek.com recognition
Strategy Technique
Exaggerate to Reveal the Truth
By exaggerating the "healthy" alternatives to an unpalatable extreme, the campaign humorously revealed the undeniable truth of children's love for Halloween candy. This allowed Crest and Oral-B to position themselves as enabling indulgence.
Explore Technique
Creative Technique
Conduct an Experiment
The campaign set up a social experiment, replacing traditional Halloween candy with "healthy" alternatives for children. This allowed the brands to capture genuine, humorous reactions, proving the universal love for candy.
Explore Technique
Craft Breakdown
This campaign's craft is exceptional in acting and Acting, cleverly using a simple concept to create genuinely hilarious and relatable content. The authentic reactions of the children, combined with the clear strategic alignment, make it stand out.
The unscripted, genuine, and highly expressive reactions of the children are the heart of the campaign, providing raw, hilarious, and universally relatable content that resonates deeply with viewers.
The voiceover effectively frames the campaign's dilemma and solution, while the on-screen text delivers a punchy, memorable tagline that perfectly encapsulates the ad's humor and brand message.
The campaign's magic comes from the perfect synergy between a provocative idea, authentic child reactions, and a clear, humorous brand message, making it an instantly shareable and memorable piece of content.
