Behind the Effective 100 Rankings: How Harpic made toilets India’s new status symbol – and how we must all wear the rose-tinted glasses of culture

Harpic’s campaign, ranked third in the Effective 100, successfully reached consumers that wouldn’t use its products by changing the conversation around marriage and status symbols in India.

The biggest challenges in marketing have a sense of perpetuity to them.

These ‘meta-briefs’ are beyond documentation and unbound by marketing calendars. We have been trying for decades to find better ways to make people quit smoking, drink more Coke with their meals, be charitable and buy more insurance.

An oft-heard example of such a problem statement is creating a market for your brand where the product category doesn’t get used – more ‘selling-a-comb-to-a-bald-guy’.

One of world’s largest toilet cleaner brands, Harpic, had over decades worked tirelessly to become a ‘superior cleaning expert’ through efficacy-based communication. Its efforts...

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