Clean up your Act
The cleaning brand Cif has launched a new campaign to clean up the internet.
Cif the Web is a free iPad app that is attempting to make the internet safer for children aged between 4 and 12 to explore. It blocks over 4 million sites that contain pornographic or violent content. A filter blocks offensive words from sites and replaces them with more acceptable versions.
“We were shocked to discover during our research the average age of kids’ first exposure to pornography online is 8. Then just a couple of weeks ago, a news story broke about a study in England lowering that figure to 6-year-olds.”
Dave Henderson, executive creative director of London’s DLKW Lowe, the agency that developed the app with Cif, to Fast Company
Enough is enough
As the recession continues to stem consumer spending, we’ve seen well-known brands branch into new markets in order to trade on their good name and attract new demographics.
At the same time, parents are increasingly concerned when it comes to the well-being of their children: According to Mintel’s Lifestyles of Mums UK September 2012 report, 25% of mothers say that they are concerned about their children’s online safety and 49% of today’s parents have more concerns compared with the previous generation of parents.
Cif the Web speaks to both these issues. This campaign shows how Cif is attempting to position itself as a lifestyle – rather than simply a household – brand and trade on the trustworthiness it’s earned over the years without moving too far away from its underlying message. Here, it’s raising awareness in a digital context by applying its ‘cleaning ability’ to the internet.
Can other brands find an innovative way to expand their remit without losing their brand message or integrity? As consumers look to patronise brands they can trust, those that do so are sure to be rewarded with greater custom.
This is an observation from our Inspire trend Extend my Brand which looks at how brands are finding new and innovative ways to leverage their equity. To know more about Mintel Inspire click here.
