For Scent Seekers Only

In recent ads for Proctor & Gamble’s laundry detergent brand, Gain, TV actor and comedian Ty Burrell (best known for his role as Phil Dunphy in the ABC sitcom Modern Family) stars in a faux fragrance commercial.

Gain’s messaging is about as straightforward as it gets. Burrell himself even says, “I’m in a fragrance ad.” The message? Gain is a fragrance brand – virtually indistinguishable from cologne or perfume. Because of this, the benefit can be difficult to convey directly – as it’s a sensory experience. And so the ad must contain all of the necessary, over-the-top, cinematic and disjointed elements that you’d expect to find in a commercial for Dior.

While the spot is tongue-in-cheek, it also feels self-aware. It’s poking fun at fragrance commercials in a way that only an insider really can, so how did a laundry detergent manage to penetrate the exclusive world of fragrance?

This most recent incarnation of Gain’s messaging stands as a testament to the true power of positioning. For decades P&G has managed a number of brands, including Tide detergent. But while Tide was firmly established as being “tough on stains,” Gain needed to be, well, different.

Initially, Gain was introduced as a stain-fighting enzyme detergent. The “science-ness” behind Gain’s stain removal was its main point of distinction. But in the 1980s Gain was nearly discontinued because its enzyme promise just wasn’t enough to capture a niche market outside of the existing consumer base for Tide. When it came to fighting stains, it seemed consumers saw Tide as their best hope.

So the marketing team behind Gain found another niche market, one that loved the sensory experience of clean laundry. They dubbed these consumers “scent seekers” and set to repositioning the brand. The team changed the packaging and its messaging strategy and created what is now one of P&Gs largest brands. Their once-underdog, Gain had brought home over a billion dollars in sales by 2007.

Now, a little over three decades later, Ty Burrell is posing for flashing bulbs, running in slow motion and smoldering in black turtlenecks to remind us that Gain is a person’s eau de parfum as much as it is a detergent, and to remind us to never underestimate the power of great positioning.