Murphy’s Naturals is a bug repellent brand and Certified B Corporation that operates on a simple but powerful belief: enjoying the outdoors shouldn’t come at nature’s expense. With a portfolio rooted in high-performing natural ingredients and an organization genuinely committed to sustainable practices, the brand set out to reach modern families—especially moms—who increasingly expect both efficacy and environmental responsibility from the products they bring into their homes.
To shift perceptions in a category long defined by chemical-heavy incumbents, we needed to build a brand platform that could credibly elevate Murphy’s Naturals into the cultural conversation. Our goal was twofold: grow meaningful awareness of the Murphy’s name across multiple consumer touchpoints and strategically differentiate the brand from DEET-driven competitors who traditionally dominate the space.
Achieving this required more than a message—it demanded an orchestrated, crosschannel ecosystem. We developed a unified creative platform that could flex seamlessly across social, digital video, influencer partnerships, retail media, and earned storytelling, ensuring that every channel reinforced a single, compelling narrative: families can choose products that protect them and the planet. By tailoring content to the strengths of each medium while maintaining a consistent strategic foundation, we positioned Murphy’s Naturals not just as an alternative, but as the brand leading a movement toward a more sustainable, familyforward future outdoors.
To bring our objective to life—driving meaningful awareness while reframing the role of natural repellents—we launched a campaign that transformed the typical “mosquito villain” into something far more unexpected: a lovable, largerthanlife character named “Skeeter.” By humanizing a bug, we shifted the category conversation from fearbased messaging to a more joyful, storydriven approach that aligned with Murphy’s Naturals’ value system. Skeeter became the emotional bridge that helped consumers see bugs not as the enemy, but as an integral—even beautiful—part of the outdoor experience.
But the creative idea was only half the strategy. To ensure we reached our “Modern Mom” audience at the exact moments they were most receptive, we built a precision media layer powered by weathertriggered intelligence. Because mosquito activity correlates strongly with humidity levels, we used weather-triggered media that served ads when humidity spiked. This transformed programmatic media buys into contextually relevant, realtime interventions that aligned with actual consumer need.
By combining an emotionally resonant character with a highly dynamic media plan, we ensured that our audience encountered “Skeeter” not only across platforms—but precisely when they were thinking about mosquito protection in their own backyards. This strategic pairing allowed us to meet our objective: elevate the brand, differentiate it from DEETheavy competitors, and deliver value in moments that mattered most.
The multiplatform approach delivered both brandbuilding power and performance results—proving that a natural, valuesdriven challenger brand could compete headon with chemicalheavy category leaders.
With a $50K production budget and $1.8M in working media, the campaign generated 200 million impressions, driving substantial reach and frequency among our “Modern Mom” audience. That exposure translated directly into action, resulting in 168,000 purchases and $3.6 million in revenue, achieving a $2.25 ROAS—a strong return for a brand operating in a highly competitive, seasonally driven category.
Beyond performance metrics, the campaign succeeded in shifting longstanding perceptions around natural repellents. Brand lift studies showed a 4% increase in brand awareness among exposed audiences versus control, alongside a 3% lift in usage, demonstrating that our combination of emotional storytelling and weathertriggered precision media not only drove sales, but effectively advanced key brandequity objectives.
Together, these results validated our strategic approach: a cohesive, multiplatform ecosystem powered by a memorable character and timely, contextually relevant delivery that put Murphy’s Naturals topofmind in the very moments families needed it most.
