509. Procter & Gamble PMC's TIDE, "Tide Clean" Campaign, 1961

In 1961, TIDE embarked on a local campaign that was based on a formulaic P&G advertising strategy principle of re-setting the bar of laundry cleanliness, using “Tide Clean” as the new standard. This benefit is expressed in the selling line: “The cleanest clean is TIDE Clean”.

The campaign also featured a tried-and-tested “product demo”,  P& G copy jargon that visualizes the product superiority through a demonstration of its cleaning power—statically shown as a series of captioned inset pictures , so typical of their advertising in the 60s and 70s. 

A sub-text of “affordable cost” is embedded in the execution expressed thru an additional copy intended to reassure : “…and costs so little to use!”. P&G was often fond of cramming their advertising with many sub-messages and their agencies were challenged to think of ways to include these seamlessly in crafting the copy (think Mr. Clean’s “labadami, labango, labanayad’  Dari Crème’s “pinipili ng mapiling ina…at anak!).

To top it all—just to make sure the message is not lost on the mass market,  the TIDE Clean campaign, used all sorts of talents to represent a father, a mother, their kids, friends and a token grandparent, who appeared in their own individual colored print ad. 

Truly, this TIDE print campaign can be held up in a basic marketing class as a perfect example of P&G’s formula advertising, ticking all the boxes of how their product advertising should be done—this, from a company which “invented” brand management.