Laundry Brand Sunlight Helps Canadians Shine in Touching Spot

Today, SUNLIGHT launches a touching new campaign that breaks away from category norms of formulation and scientific claims to tell a more personal story. The campaign, which demonstrates how SUNLIGHT products help Canadians focus on what is really important to them, was created in collaboration with Toronto-based creative agency, Juniper Park\TBWA. 

The spot showcases the omnipresent human side of household chores. It centres around a Nigerian family –children helping their parents and doing homework, and a father applying for jobs. At first, he is unsuccessful and worried about providing for his family. However, he later arrives home to happily announce that he starts his new job on Monday. As the family celebrates, it is revealed that they are not in fact in their native land, but rather in Canada, where they have moved to start a new life. The spot ends with a reminder that SUNLIGHT has been taking care of the little things for over a century, so that families can concentrate on the big things, “like making a new country, a home”. 

“Henkel Canada is very excited for this new campaign that reminds consumers that the SUNLIGHT brand has been a part of Canadian homes and relied on by families for over 100 years,” says Heidi Chiu, director of marketing for Henkel Canada. “SUNLIGHT started in Canada, and we continue to be a trusted and affordable cleaning solution for Canadian families. We’re proud to be a part of the fabric of this country.”    

This spot is a departure from the more common technology-heavy household cleaning campaigns, which typically place emphasis on a product’s functional benefits and the marketing claims of the science behind them. SUNLIGHT, the brand trusted by Canadians for over 100 years, covers multiple categories of household cleaning, from hand dishwash, to automatic dishwash, to laundry. It is a brand that is simply trusted to get the job done and this spot leans into that simplicity and trust by centring around a relatable family story.  

“People don’t overthink their household purchases, so we were conscious not to overthink this campaign," says Neil Walker-Wells, group creative director at Juniper Park\TBWA. "Our aim was to demonstrate how SUNLIGHT supports families during the big moments in life – whether that is a new house, a new school, or making a new country a home, which is the story we decided to illustrate in this spot. While strategy and testing played an important role in its development, we used these to build an engaging story that doesn’t feel like an ad, but still clearly has the brand and the product at its heart.”  

The campaign launches nationally across Canada today on TV, OLV and social, and will be in market until December 11th. The campaign was directed by Mindcastle and produced by Animals. Post-production was handled by the Vanity, music and sound design by OSO Audio, and media was handled by MediaBrands.