Downy Unstopables Cuts Costs with Masked Celebrity Cameo

Downy Unstopables Cuts Costs with Masked Celebrity Cameo

Published: December 14, 2022

Downy Unstopables has created a 30-second ad ahead of the Super Bowl LVII, featuring an unknown celebrity who chose to remain masked. This is the first time in decades that a Procter & Gamble-owned brand will advertise during a game.

On December 12, Downy Unstopables unveiled a two-month brand campaign consisting of several ads, each revealing a bit more about the identity of the secret celebrity. Considering that the upcoming Super Bowl is still months away, this move would make Downy Unstopables one of the first brands to release an ad ahead of the event.

The brand collaborates with the creative agency Saatchi & Saatchi on the latest campaign. Together with Woven Collaborative, the agencies will run marketing activations on social media, creating all the spots, including the final spot and the actual commercial that will air during the game’s second quarter.

The entire "Believe" campaign is centered around the masked celebrity whose identity remains a mystery. Their identity is to be revealed during Downy’s Unstopables Super Bowl commercial, but only if the brand fulfills its promise of 12 weeks of freshness.

In the 30-second “I’m Not Doing It Yet” spot, the veiled celebrity is enjoying the smell of the scent-boosted sweatshirt, warning Downy that they’ll keep smelling it until the 12-week timer is up. The celebrity will remain unnamed if the freshness is gone before the timer is up.

Every one of the remaining six or seven commercials will drop another Easter egg about the identity of the masked celebrity. The talking dog in the first spot already mentioned that it’s pretty obvious who the star is, but we’ll see.

The Downy Unstopables commercial will run while the game is being played for the first time, although its adverts have already appeared during the Super Bowl pregame in 2012.

P&G’s decision to advertise while the game is being played probably has to do with the company cutting down the marketing spend in order to invest in measuring reach.

Looking at the mystery celebrity, one may think that P&G cut marketing spending a bit too much. Is it really a clever marketing ploy by advertising giants like Saatchi & Saatchi, or was the celebrity’s fee a bit too steep for P&G’s marketing budget?

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