Clearasil

Parent Company

Reckitt Benckiser

Category

Personal Care brands - Skin care

Sector

FMCG

Feel the difference; Dont just look awesome; The science

Tagline/ Slogan

of looking awesome

USP

Clear skin in just three days

STP

Segment

Personal care-Acne treatment

Target Group

Adolescents and college youth

Feel improvement in skin problems right from first

Positioning

application.

SWOT Analysis

1. The top-selling brand of skin care and acne medication

2. RB has been ranked as one of the Most Innovative
Companies in the World
3. Inexpensive and high quality product
4. First dermatological brand created especially for
younger skin to fight against pimples
5. Strong R &D team with constant product innovations
6. Wide range of products and good availability &
Strength

distribution

1.Stiff segment with a lot of brands competing for

market share
2. Limited penetration in some of the major growing
Weakness

economies

1.Senior citizen population is a large growing market

segment which should be given focus
2.A potential huge market has been spotted on men
Opportunity

cosmetic sales

1. Presence of strong competition

2.Unstable demand-price ratio
Threats

3.Price war with other brands

Competition

1. Ponds
2.Loreal
3.Vicco
Competitors

4.Himalaya

NEW RESULTS FOR CLEARASIL

Well-known skincare brand Clearasil has recently repositioned their brand to appeal to young adults instead of
young teens and to profile the skin care range rather than the association to the topical treatment of spots. But how to
drive this message to the market? Through a social media strategy created by Euro RSCG 4D and an activation
campaign conceptualised and implemented by Havas Sports & Entertainment. The results were astounding with
thousands of young adults visiting and liking the Facebook.com/ClearasilSouthAfrica page and university students
countrywide talking about the Clearasil Awesome Face of the Day: Varsity Challenge.
Originally a brand synonymous with pimply teenagers, Clearasil has harnessed cutting edge technology and
knowledge to create a skin care range for teenagers and young adults. The brief was this: to change the Clearasil
messaging to one that stated clearly that their products offer a complete skin care solution. In order to reposition the
evolved brand, the Clearasil Awesome Face of the Day was created.
Euro RSCG 4D created the App for the competition which is currently running on
Facebook.com/ClearasilSouthAfrica. The challenge however was how to get high traffic volumes to the Clearasil
site which was a start-up site. Havas Sports & Entertainment conceptualised, managed and implemented the Varsity
Challenge leg of the Clearasil Awesome Face of the Day. Havas Sports & Entertainment brokered a deal with five
universities nationwide which saw the Varsity Challenge run in activations over two phases. The participating
tertiary institutions were the University of Johannesburg, Free State University, Stellenbosch University, Tshwane
University of Technology and Varsity College Sandton.
The activations immediately instilled brand presence, brand awareness and gained Clearasil new followers on the
Facebook page. The right communication elements were essential to the marketing mix and so to give a face to the
Clearasil products, 200 vibrant, dynamic and confident girls were selected to compete for the ultimate prize an all
expenses paid trip to the One Young World Summit in Zurich, Switzerland, to meet and debate issues important to
the youth of today with the likes of Wyclef Jean, Kofi Annan and Arch Bishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu.
Phase 1 of the competition was an inter-residence competition run at each university. Approximately 40 girls per
Varsity canvassed votes for their picture on the Clearasil Awesome Face of the Day App created by 4D Euro. The
winner, in addition to qualifying for Phase 2 of the competition, was credited with raising R10 000 for charity, which
was donated on behalf of Clearasil.
Phase 2 of the competition saw the 5 finalists competing for the space as a delegate at the One Young World

Summit. To increase awareness of the competition and drive voters to the facebook page, each contestant received
personalised business cards to distribute to potential voters and some contestants posted videos on YouTube. Word
of mouth played a major role in the campaign with friends telling friends telling friends. The cards also had how- tovote info which drove thousands of voters to like the page. This, coupled with new posts via the
Facebook.com/ClearasilSouthAfrica page, ensured that the page likes grew exponentially. Prizes in the form of
Clearasil hampers and shopping centre vouchers ensured that a high level of interest was maintained for the duration
of the competition.
The campaign was not without challenges, but these were addressed immediately and solutions were found. As the
voting application sits outside of facebook, the App was not compatible with smartphones. A mobile phone
application was developed to allow more users to vote. Unfortunately this did allow users to bypass liking the
Clearasil facebook page, but there was a still a steady increase in visitors to the site. During the 8 week duration of
the activation the Clearasil page received 7826 likes. The winner, Thato Choma from Varsity College, amassed close
to 10 000 votes.
Its great working with a team of people who have a deep commitment to the Clearasil brand - an understanding of
where its come from, where its at and where it needs to be. The concept and activation for Clearasil was out of the
box. A great synergy of strategic and creative thinking, says Karen PooleAccounts Manager at Havas Sports &
Entertainment.