CASE STUDY: How Rexona broke the relevance barrier in China

Background
Rexona’s history in China is impressive. The brand redefined deodorant as a daily grooming product in 2008, gaining market leadership in only eight weeks and held its success for the following years. However, by 2011 category growth hit a plateau. Though Rexona’s market share slowly but steadily increased, category awareness and sales were stagnant. It became clear that Rexona needed to find a new, effective way to boost category growth.

Aim
Consumer research revealed the obstacle: Chinese women simply didn't believe they needed to use deodorant. Just as importantly, traditional media alone was no longer effective in convincing women otherwise - they simply assumed that the advertising was for others, but not for them. Rexona needed to find a channel that would cut through advertising clutter and provide a first-hand product experience. Wildfire's brief was to get female non-users to try Rexona.

Execution
Wildfire responded with a three-stage solution: first, identify the most outspoken women in universities, offices, and online forums. Second, give these social women a rich, first-hand experience. Finally, provide them with tools to share Rexona in offices, schools, and online social networks – creating messages based on personal relationships and trust.
Each influencer was given a first-hand experience with full-size product, WOM guide, and a unique challenge: try Rexona for a week under one arm and record their feeling at the end of each day. They were provided with sweat test-strips and a nightly SMS reminder to apply the test strip and reply with the results. Influencers who used Rexona every day were able to share the program with ten more friends, creating thousands more Rexona gifting experiences and spreading further trial.

Results
More than 100,000 women received a recommendation about Rexona from a trusted friend, driving trial and education. Based on independent research from Oracle Added Value, purchase intent of WOM recipients increased by 20 per cent versus a random control group.