- Elaine Wong

Doing more with less is certainly a familiar concept for consumers these days. It is also a theme Procter & Gamble co-opted for the launch of its new Cascade Complete All-in-1 ActionPacs as well as its existing Dawn Ultra line.

The ActionPacs, which reach full distribution next month, are part of P&G's overall strategy of playing up the value proposition of its products. The tablets are touted as helping consumers save time and money by eliminating the need for prewashing.

P&G research found that 80% of consumers would prewash dishes before putting them in the washer. "It's like adding the ultimate button to your dishwasher," is the tagline for the ad campaign which broke this month.

The first TV spot created by Saatchi & Saatchi, New York, shows the tablet bursting into the air like fireworks and then cleaning the surface of the moon like a plate. "We're trying to deliver the message that Cascade cleans so well, they'll be confident their dishes will come out right the first time, every time," said Ryan Dullea, P&G's home care brand manager for new business development.

Theultimatebutton.com and online advertising launches in September. Barefoot Advertising, Cincinnati, handles interactive.

The theme is becoming consistent among P&G's home care products. Last month, Dawn Ultra kicked off a series of ads touting its concentrated cleaning power. "With Dawn Ultra, you can clean more dishes without the water feeling...Unlike some larger bottles of dish liquid that have more water, Dawn Ultra contains 30% more cleaning ingredients. So you pay for more power, not water,"  says the TV campaign. The Kaplan Thaler Group, New York, handled.

The Cascade and Dawn initiatives reflect consumers' changing lifestyle habits, said Felicia Rogers, evp of Decision Analyst, a market research company in Arlington, Texas. "New products like these can help us all feel better about our efforts to conserve resources."

P&G spent $43 million advertising Cascade in 2007 and $56 million on Dawn, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus.