AdMiration feature: Fabuloso’s "The Accident"

For this week’s AdMiration feature, we researched Fabuloso’s “The Fabuloso’s: The Accident,” part of the brand’s telenovela-inspired “Dramatically Clean” campaign.

Fabuloso, a Colgate-Palmolive brand, has been a staple of Latin American households for many years and has a passionate fanbase.  

Kristen Babkes, senior director, integrated marketing at Colgate-Palmolive, said of the campaign, “We really wanted to find the right creative way to engage our fans and attract new consumers to grow brand awareness and love. Research shows Americans see cleaning as a stressful, messy and tedious chore, but with Fabuloso it doesn’t have to be. Cleaning can be dramatic in many ways, so with Fabuloso we give you the smell of clean and the dramatic reset all in one.”

Read on to get our 3-2-1 snapshot of the ad (3 facts, 2 learnings and 1 reflection) and learn how their ad was received based on our data. 

The ad opens to a Hispanic couple turning to face the screen at the sound of a guitar, looking dramatically into the distance, with a headline in bold purple lettering saying “The Fabulosos” and a small bottle of Fabuloso multi-purpose cleaner next to it. 

The ad cuts to the man in the initial shot lying in bed with bandages on his head and arm, when a dog struts into the room with a tree branch, making a mess and jumping on the bed. The woman in the initial shot is standing by the bed and turning to the dog she says “he still doesn’t remember us, Bruno” — referring to the injured man. 

She then opens a bottle of lavender-scented Fabuloso and the man instantly wakes up remembering the smell, the honeymoon, the accident and his wife, which he refers to as “mi amor.” Then the audience sees the man up on his skates mopping up the mess the dog left in the room while his wife and the dog celebrate that he feels better. The voiceover narrates with “long-lasting freshness to take the drama out of any mess.” The ad closes with a shot of the product and the words “Fabuloso, dramatically clean.” 

3 facts

• The ad scores in the top 1% of all US ads in potential to drive short-term sales and in the top 20% in potential to drive brand equity and long-term sales. 

• It is extremely effective in engaging the audience emotionally, creating multiple peaks of positive emotion throughout. 

• Product benefits are communicated clearly in an engaging way that is highly distinctive and drives viewers to want to buy the brand. 

2 learnings

• Understanding what is truly unique about your brand or product and amplifying that to develop a creative idea can set you apart from the competition. 

• Making your product/brand and its benefits the protagonist in an engaging storyline with a clear narrative can be significantly more effective in driving product consideration over telling the audience what it delivers.

1 reflection

Striking the right balance in advertising between speaking to existing consumers/users and attracting a new audience is not a simple feat. When looking to expand brand reach while still engaging with your existing audience, consider how you can enhance the elements people already love about your product and shout about them in an engaging way that drives pride and positivity for existing users — while still tempting new ones to want to be part of it.

The ad scores in the top 1% of all US ads in potential to drive short-term sales (Sales Impact: 99) and in the top 20% in potential to drive brand equity and long-term sales (Brand Impact: 82).

Aiming to bring drama and flair into the dull world of household cleaning, the Fabuloso ad stands out (ad distinctiveness: 4.1 vs 3.8 norm) and captures the attention of the audience (claimed attention: 4.1 vs 3.9 norm). 

It sets the brand apart from the category — playing up its Latin American heritage (brand distinctiveness: 3.9 vs 3.7 norm) and creating a truly unique ad that could only work for Fabuloso (uniqueness of brand impressions: 4.1 vs 3.9 norm).

Taking inspiration from telenovelas, people felt it had great potential to be shared around online (viral potential: 62.8 vs 56.2 norm). 

The ad was incredibly effective at evoking a strong, positive emotional reaction from the audience (overall emotion: 61% vs 55% norm) with multiple peaks throughout (emotional intensity: 18.8 vs 15.1 norm). The overdramatization of the characters and storyline made it highly humorous (laughter: 24% vs 7% norm) and equally lovable (love: 30% vs 28% norm) — particularly due to the man’s recovery from the accident and the happy ending. There was also a good level of surprise, keeping the audience on their toes guessing what might happen next. 

People loved the storyline, the characters, and how everything came together in the form of a mini telenovela. Here’s what they had to say about it:

• "I like the overly dramatic acting like you would see in a televenova series. It was funny and also to the point."

• "Man wakes from a coma and remembers things because of the smell. Evidently the smell is strong and good."

• "I liked the humor in the advertisement, in the beginning I thought it was a movie at first, but it kept me watching"

• "I liked everything about it. I love animals so that’s always a plus for me and I currently use this product and it cleans, disinfects and smells great."

• "I absolutely loved this ad. I hate most commercials but this one is awesome. I love how it was like a telenovela."

It told a clear and concise story about how effective and pleasant-smelling the product is and made it easy for the audience to understand the key message the brand was trying to deliver. 

When asked what the ad was trying to convey, most viewers mentioned the ad portrayed Fabuloso as highly efficient in tackling all kinds of messes and having a great, strong and memorable smell. This also came through in the top selected attributes communicated about the brand by the ad which were “smells great,” with 72% agreement, and “cleans effectively,” with 61% of the audience agreeing.

With product benefits clearly communicated in such an engaging way, it is not surprising an ad like this would significantly outperform in delivering a purchase uplift beyond the average ad (purchase uplift: 39% vs 19% norm). Before watching the ad, only 9% of the audience would have chosen Fabuloso the next time they were buying surface care products; after watching the ad, this rose to almost half of the audience. 

The main goal for the overall “Dramatically Clean” campaign by Fabuloso is to widen the brand’s reach, driving both awareness and love for the brand to continue to engage with their existing customers and attract new ones. “The Accident” certainly cuts through and the potential to drive engagement is dramatically clear given what consumers are already saying about it — fabulous work by Fabuloso!

What did you think? Let us know by interacting with our coverage of the ad on LinkedIn.

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