CLR
BEEN THERE, OUTDONE THAT
The Situation
CLR Brands, best known for its iconic Calcium, Lime, and Rust remover, was challenged to expand its recognition beyond a single product. With 17 specialty cleaners, the brand needed to show consumers its full range of cleaning solutions. Many consumers remembered CLR from its infomercial days, but rarely had a need for its most iconic use cases like dissolving calcium buildup from showerheads.
The pandemic led to a temporary sales boost for CLR as supply chain issues plagued the rest of the category, but the eventual return of competitors on shelf necessitated a new approach to achieve long-term sustainable growth. The spike in sales from 2020 vanished almost entirely by 2022 with many questioning if this was luck or what paths forward would help to rekindle growth. However, without a way to drive long-term momentum much of CLR’s portfolio was at a real risk of being delisted and removed from shelves at key retailers like Walmart.
The household cleaning market was crowded with a variety of all-purpose cleaners (Lysol, Clorox, etc.) and specialty cleaners (Lime Away, Scrubbing Bubbles, etc.) on shelves, but CLR's strength had always lied in its ability to handle tough, niche cleaning tasks. At the same time, the cleaning category was experiencing a new energy with the rise in #CleanTok which had reached nearly 60B+ views (post campaign launch - 113 billion views as of February 2024) as people consumed content about cleaning hacks and satisfying before & after transformations. We saw internet hacks like The Pink Stuff experience meteoric success overnight, and Walmart buyers began to replace specialty cleaners to offer them more retail shelf space to capture the momentum. We did not want to lose sight of CLR’s reputation of tackling tough headscratcher dilemmas, but we also needed to show people CLR had solutions for a wide variety of everyday tough messes to drive more sales.
The Solution
Despite the variety of cleaning products available, many consumers felt that all-purpose cleaners couldn’t handle tough messes. You could try vinegar, toothpaste, shaving cream, or a #CleanTok hack but most of these were unreliable in the face of messes that needed more than a simple “spray & wipe.” CLR’s long-standing reputation for tackling the hardest cleaning challenges made it a perfect fit for these consumers who need a reliable solution for challenging tasks. The new campaign would need to tap into the pride these consumers take in maintaining a spotless home, positioning CLR as the brand that could meet and exceed their cleaning needs.
So many cleaning brands are scared to show themselves tackling real, gritty messes — the messes that make us scratch our heads in disbelief. However, CLR has never flinched in the face of a challenge and has yet to meet a mess it couldn’t clean. Or a staring contest it couldn’t win. With such a strong track record, consumers could see how CLR lives in a league of its own. We leaned heavily into our reputation by showing that CLR welcomes the challenge of tough messes where others collapse under the pressure because they aren’t up to snuff. We aimed to show real gunk that other cleaning product never touch, because we're excited by the challenge of cleaning the so called "uncleanable."
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