Mr. Clean...
The brand.
The Man.
The myth.
The legend.
Mr. Clean has been a household staple in homes and retail cleaning aisles across America for more than 68 years, with Mr. Clean’s premier products like the Magic Eraser becoming the go-to for eliminating consumers’ toughest cleaning troubles.
But the most influential and powerful consumers of today – GenZennials, who have $360 billion in purchasing power (Forbes, 2022) – weren’t buying it... neither our story nor our product, literally. To put it simply, our reputation was looking real vintage, and not in the cool way.
This year, we decided to clean up our image and meet our consumers where they were scrolling – with a 360-degree brand campaign that would make Mr. Clean’s reputation shine brighter than the mascot’s iconic bald head.
...spoiler alert: In just six months, we reintroduced a rizzed up Mr. Clean to a whole new generation, cleaning up #CleanTok, influencing the influencers and taking Mr. Clean (the Man!) from “mid” to the center of their TikTok FYP (For You Page).
We all know cleaning products aren’t the sexiest category...but Mr. Clean was always a shining star with other generations. So, how do we give him the “cool factor” and make him a regular rizzler for Gen Z, so in turn they’d be all in on the Man and his products.
This was no easy mess to tackle. We needed to change GenZennial purchasing decisions. But also, their perception of *THE* Man (and the brand). We were tasked with taking Mr. Clean from a forgotten cleaning tool in the back of their mom’s closet to the magic they always needed in their lives.
We started off by getting down and dirty in the research. We found 60% of GenZennials go to social media to view and purchase products first over search engines because it’s more relevant, visual and fun to them according to MSS Media.
Ensuring we understood how our target audience (GenZennials) felt about Mr. Clean’s beloved mascot, we conducted primary research, which found:
84% of consumers are familiar with Mr. Clean the Man;
85% see Mr. Clean the Man as a trusted cleaning expert
80% think Mr. Clean the Man is cool and feel a sense of nostalgia when they see him
Not bad – but not enough. The chemistry was missing.
With these insights in our bucket, we knew that pairing Mr. Clean's familiar face with a sparkling personality that Gen Z can get down with was the key to making the brand relevant with this audience. Plus, 64% of Gen Zers use TikTok to search for new products, setting social media as the perfect stage to show GenZennials Mr. Clean can not only hang with the best of ‘em but can bring the magic like no one else (EMarketer, 2024).
We had one mission: to make Mr. Clean the Man America’s favorite icon and the brand a household cleaning staple once again.
Our strategy to win over GenZennials everywhere?
Go big. Go bold. Go bald. And transform Mr. Clean into a social media sensation!
We seized the new Magic Eraser upgrades – Ultra Thick, Ultra Foamy and Ultra Bath – as an opportunity for Mr. Clean to make a splash and reintroduce himself.
In order to start the ultimate cleaning revolution and convince GenZennials that Mr. Clean is THE go-to partner in grime, we partnered with mega social star Kat Stickler who showcased how Mr. Clean was beloved by all generations from her mom to her daughter. Next, the Man made his big debut IRL, winning the hearts of TikTok’s biggest influencers. He convinced them of the magic that only Mr. Clean could deliver. In turn, influencers shouted the praises of Mr. Clean and the brand across TikTok feeds. This caught the attention of GenZennials everywhere... who wanted to know more and join in on the Mr. Clean fun.
As the movement and love for Mr. Clean grew, we took over TikTok cleaning conversations, with scroll-stopping content that made GenZennials reconsider what the Man was offering and inserted the brand into trending topics to build deeper connections outside of cleaning.
From January to June, Mr. Clean transformed into social media’s most influential cleaning expert. In just six months, we turned Mr. Clean into an influencer himself and GenZennials into one of our most devoted fanbases.
