Clorox is giving its core bleach product a new spin cycle.

A new campaign, themed “The Truth About Bleach,” which was developed jointly by DDB, OMD, Journey 9 and Ketchum, seeks to show consumers that there are more uses for bleach than just in laundry. Ads, which broke this month, demonstrate how bleach can be used to clean baby bottles and cutting boards, and as an agent to prolong the life of fresh-cut flowers.

An April print execution running in women's books reinforces the message with a word-finder puzzle revealing such items as a “plastic spoon,” “teething ring” and a “Sippy cup.” The ad directs readers to a site, Cloroxbleachuses.com, which went live last week. Another site, factsaboutbleach.com, dispels popular myths surrounding the product, such as it contains mercury and  harms the environment.

Other advertising elements include TV public service announcements with NBA  star Grant Hill (who experienced a bout with a staph infection) and an ad which appeared in November consumer publications describing bleach's role in saving fungus-threatened frogs.

The company did not break down ad spending for the campaign, but Clorox Bleach marketing manager Chris Hyder said the effort represents an “increased investment” on the part of the brand. “It definitely represents a clear change in consumer messaging for a substantial portion of our spending,” he said.

Previously, Clorox’s marketing focused on using bleach to make clothes whiter than just laundry detergent alone. Clorox spent $40 million on U.S. measured media for the first 10 months of 2008, a decrease of 14 percent from the same period in 2007, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus (figures do not include Internet spending).



“The marketing insight is, even though this brand is [almost] 100 years old, in many ways, it has to be treated like a new product. There is such a lack of understanding of the many benefits of bleach,” Hyder said.

While Clorox is best known for bleach, it has expanded its product portfolio in recent years to include brands like Glad trash bags, Kingsford charcoal and, most recently, Burt’s Bees’ line of cosmetics. At the same time, it has released a number of bleach-based products like the Clorox Bleach Pen Gel. But a drop in sales has prompted a renewed emphasis on the company’s core product. Clorox standard household care bleach sales fell 9.4  percent  to $180 million for the 52 weeks ending Nov. 30. Private label posted a much smaller decline (2.4 percent to $104 million), per IRI.

Whether the campaign is successful or not remains to be seen.

Wachovia Capital Markets analyst Jason Gere said Clorox’s mission may be hard; in tough times, consumers will willingly trade down if the product does not give them “aesthetic pleasure,” he said. After all, “bleach is just a chemical. That's what it is.”

Ali Dibadj, a senior analyst at Sanford Bernstein, said the campaign comes at a time when private label is typically a big threat in commoditized segments. “They're trying to resuscitate their brand in a category where there is no clear differentiation between Clorox Bleach and another bleach,” he said.

UBS analyst Nik Modi said the move might be welcomed by Clorox's competitors as bleach sales have been flat ever since the economy went south.

Al Banisch, managing director at Sterling Rice Group, Boulder, Colo., said that years ago, Heinz managed to increase sales for itself and the category in vinegar. Whereas the company previously touted vinegar as an all-purpose liquid that did everything from cleaning windows to killing ants, Banisch repositioned it as the “brand you trust for food.” In doing so, he helped reverse a multiyear market share decline. “It brought differentiation to a classic, undifferentiated commodity,” he said.