There was a time when, beneath almost every kitchen sink in America, you’d find a slightly gooey, half-full bottle of Woolite for those rare occasions you hand-wash your “delicates”. This wasn’t a good place to be for a product from the high-volume laundry category. Especially when most machines now had a “gentle cycle”.
But simply moving the delicates from sink to machine wouldn't increase usage We needed to broaden our definition of delicate and increase the size of the load.
When you think about it, any piece of clothing you really like, or love, or care about, or that holds special meaning, is more than just “delicate”. It's precious, and irreplaceable, and terrifyingly fragile. Even if it’s made from sail cloth and rivets.
And now the safest way to care for the clothes you really care about is with Woolite - in the gentle cycle.
But wait! Instead of using the gentle cycle, why not simplify matters and rename it “The Woolite Cycle”?
And what if we worked with the washing machine manufacturers and the fashion houses and designers and put “The Woolite Cycle” symbol on clothing labels and washing machines...? Then we'd have a business idea!
To dramatize the sometimes odd connections people have with a favorite piece of clothing, I created a series of videos that explored what made it special, what it evokes, how it makes them feel - and how they care for it.
I wanted the spot shown here to be an authentic expression from someone who had more than a casual relationship with good clothes, and clearly knew how to wear them. And how to care for them. The woman in this commercial was an “A-list” model I found in Milan, which is where we shot it...about as far away as we could reasonably get from beneath that American sink.