CLOROX X AEF VIRTUAL CASE COMPETITION
product designer / social media strategist / market researcher
THE PROMPT
The AEF x Clorox Virtual Case Competition centered around creating an innovative product to solve the needs of COVID-19 sustainably and profitably. Participants were grouped into teams of five and given a week to prepare a three slide, ten-minute pitch to Clorox's product innovation team. My team consisted of members from Eastern and Western United States, as well as India. Our product focused on revising the "tupperware" products within Glad to fit the growing desire for increased sanitation with minimal contact. Throughout this virtual competition, I acted as the product designer, social media strategist, and target market researcher.
OUR PITCH
Cleanware acts as an extension of the Gladware product line, focusing on maintaining healthy eating habits by providing a visual reminder to clean your hands before and after your meals. The product acts as a way to leverage Clorox equity in a way that caters to the needs of working adults and children re-entering home and school. As we return to "normal," many individuals fear that their loved ones will not be able to maintain the habits they had when personal bathrooms were easily available to them. This is prevalent for parents who have young children they cannot monitor in school. Our silicon-based food storage container makes the product easy to collapse, eco-friendly, and inexcusable to pack in bags and backpacks.
MARKETING CAMPAIGN
My main contribution to our pitch was the social media based #GladtoEat campaign. The campaign highlighted the "art of lunch notes" as a way to utilize the desire to connect with others as a means of producing user-generated content and product exposure. #GladtoEat asks users to submit "lunch notes" they would send to loved ones going back to work/school by downloading the template from the Glad website in exchange for a feature on social media. To receive the template, consumers must enter their email, thus creating a contact list for future promotions. Using this method allows for not only exposure of the issue that Cleanware aims to solve, but also create genuine brand advocates sharing the product to their friends and family, a strategy highly effective in gaining attention for new products.
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LEARNINGS
Our product passed the preliminary screening and advanced to the second round. Though we did not win, I am proud of the work we were able to do during the time frame and with a global team. The team received positive feedback on our cross-platform marketing efforts and data collection strategy. If I were to go back to improve the product, I would make the following changes based on the feedback from the judges:
1. Simply target audience: Parents with small children act as the main market in which this product could satisfy a potential need. They expressed the most concern for the situation Cleanware wanted to solve thus making them the strongest market to advertise to. Rather than picking two different niches, I would have chosen the young parent market and then further segregated marketing efforts by lifestyle, location, and other contributing factors.
2. Connect packaging to the ideal user: Bouncing off the target audience note, I would alter my packaging to address the new market. I would choose a more vibrant color scheme to make the product appear more fun for children. Additionally, the product itself could have color-blocked areas within the lid to further enhance the child-friendly look.
