Your Shot: ‘Cif The Web’ App

The number of young children using tablets, unprotected from inappropriate online language and content continues to grow – and shows no sign of slowing. So, when DLKW Lowe were briefed by Unilever cleaning brand Cif to find alternative ways to communicate the brand’s message, they came up with the ingenious idea of scrubbing up the internet. Cue ‘Cif The Web’, an iPad app which works like a normal web browser but blocks over four million inappropriate websites and replaces unsuitable words with more child-friendly ones, using a built-in swear filter. DLKW Lowe ECD, Dave Henderson, tells Addison Capper more. 

 

LBB> What was the brief from the client and what were your immediate thoughts when you saw it?

DH> The brief was simple…but tough. Every year our Unilever/Cif client challenges us to create work that finds new and alternative ways to communicate the brand message. We knew there had to be something we could do beyond just another TV ad.
 

LBB> What was the research and design process like for a project with such depth?

DH> We learned a lot during the whole process. It was particularly sad to learn that children as young as six are now exposed to pornography online. But this instilled a sense of real worth into our team for what we were doing. It was interesting to test the beta version with kids, just to learn how they actually interact with tablets. That definitely helped us design aspects of the user interface.

 
LBB> How long did it take to fully develop?

DH> Less time than you might think. Like all apps, we’re constantly working to improve it. But the main design work, which was by our in-house studio ‘Colour’, took around two weeks and the build took around a further three. We partnered with a great company called ‘Socially Bright’ to help us on the actual technical build. There was also a nail biting 10 days or so waiting for Apple to give their approval.
 

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LBB> Strategically, what do you think this app will achieve for Cif as a brand?

DH> Well, this isn’t just another ad. It's a contemporary and relevant way to remind users every day that Cif can help you clean up all kinds of stuff around the home, including the Internet. It’s great when a brand has a useful purpose like this.
 

LBB> What were most challenging aspects and how did you overcome them?

DH> One of the most challenging aspects was the unique ‘swear filter’ – it actually looks for and replaces bad language on a site for something more appropriate to kids. We had to log and evaluate over four and a half thousand individual ‘adult’ words and swear words, across the different languages in all the key markets. Then to each of these words we gave a contextually correct ‘clean’ replacement… That's an awful lot of writing…and an awful lot of swearing. As you can imagine, some of the meetings were the most outrageously foul mouthed gatherings I’ve ever heard in my entire advertising career.