Listerine enters the metaverse with 'Breathcalypse' campaign to fight off bad breath

Posted on 2022 Nov,01 | By ArabAd's staff

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Listerine enters the metaverse with 'Breathcalypse' campaign to fight off bad breath

A growing number of brands are breaking into the world of in-game advertising and extending their reach to the gaming audience. The metaverse is an increasingly popular place for brands to build or be part of.

“There’s something very unique about the growth of gaming as a marketing platform,” explained Grant Paterson, head of gaming and esports at Wunderman Thompson in “Into the Metaverse” report. “We talk about gaming as being the nexus of a new consumer paradigm.”

One of those brands that are showing off their gaming know-how by creating their own offerings and wrapping gaming capabilities into their entertainment and advertising strategies is mouthwash and oral care brand Listerine.

Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health has embraced the metaverse with a game-themed activation for its Listerine antiseptic mouthwash brand, created by Wunderman Thompson Brazil.

The campaign, which launched across Brazil and which runs for one month, features a game called ‘Breathcalypse’, which simulates real life. The online and open world game takes place in the city of Complexo within the metaverse, where people create their own characters, live in a community and interact with one another.

In the game, players wake up with green smoke coming out of their mouths, with this smoke representing bad breath. Those players who are around people with bad breath will see their stress levels gradually increasing, making their vision blurry and causing a bad breath apocalypse. By searching for LISTERINE within the game, which is available in pharmacies and vending machines throughout the virtual city and by using the product, players can ward off bad breath.

As well as making use of innovative technologies such as the metaverse, Listerine brought a novel element to the campaign launch, with the inclusion of an in-game comedy show featuring Brazilian actor and comedian Fábio Porchat, a Listerine brand ambassador. The comedy show could be viewed only on the day of the launch (25th October), by all the players present in the city on that day. Those who successfully warded off bad breath on that day were able to watch Fábio Porchat's comedy show. The show featured skits built to convey key brand and category messages within the region.

At the same moment that Listerine was revealed to be the solution to ‘Breathcalypse’, messages were sent to all the players in the city explaining the cause of the problem. This message was transmitted in a playful way in the metaverse and in text/video format in city newspapers.

To generate anticipation ahead of the campaign launch, the comedy show was advertised inside the game on billboards, and Porchat published a teaser video creating his avatar.

“There is nothing better than this space to communicate with our audience in a modern and disruptive way,” said Sabrina Tichauer, Marketing Director of Oral Hygiene Brands at Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health Brazil. “We want to convey information about Listerine and be present in the ecosystems of gamers’ communities, in addition to expanding our reach to consumers who are not on these platforms.”

Keka Morelle, CCO at Wunderman Thompson Brazil said: “Everyday we strive to help our clients inspire their consumers in a creative and innovative way, and this was no different for ‘Breathcalypse’. Rather than just appear in a game, we wanted to change the dynamic and found ourselves asking: ‘what would happen if one day, everyone woke up with bad breath? A Breathcalypse!’. That’s it – an action that could only be done in the Metaverse. And in a game that simulates real life, there are no worries about zombies, aliens or killer robots, the only thing to worry about is the bad breath itself.”

Upon launch, the campaign is sreceived 1MM+ views in less than 12 hours and more than 100 simultaneous lives streaming the activation live on Twitch, with 69,000 simultaneous views in a single live.

CREDITS

Client: Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health
Brand: LISTERINE®
VP Marketing: Daniella Brissac
Head of Media: Martin Zanlungo
Head of Marketing: Sabrina Tichauer
Head of Media: Taís Trevisol
Head of Communications and Public Affairs: Roberta Catani
Director of Marketing and Connected Commerce: Tomas Bouthemy
Digital Marketing Coordinator: Marina Leitão
Senior Brand Manager: Gustavo Miranda
Senior Assistant Brand Manager: André Zanetti
Marketing Analyst: Nelson Kadubickei
Communications Manager, Brand PR and Public Affairs: Priscilla Barone
Brand Communications Senior Analyst: Gisella Aguiar

Agency: Wunderman Thompson Brazil
Chief Creative Officer: Keka Morelle
Creative Director(s): Alvin Shiguefuzi, Sabrina Villar
Art Director(s): Maicon Gomes
Copywriter(s): Lucas Durães
Illustrator: George Gomes

Production: Wunderman Thompson
Head of Production: Michel Gubeissi
Project Management: Orlando Nascimento, Luiz Cobalchini

GAME DEVELOPMENT

Production: 3C Gaming
CEO: Renan Philip
CCO: Paulo Aguiar

Creative Director: Lucas Pinheiro

Art Director: Lucas Pinheiro

Copywriter: Lucas Munhoz, Giovanna Cartapatti

Business: Marcelo Trivilato

Account Management: Rayanne Lourenço, Igor Felício

Head of Operations and Project Management: Hugo Martins
Producer: Stephan Natal

Tráfego: João Pedro Bezerra

Assistant Producer: Bianca Pacheco

Technician: Hylan Dias

Broadcast Engineer: Nykolas “Wokin” Costa

Broadcast Operator: Everton “Shino” Barbosa

I.T. Manager: Rafael Souza

Photography Director: Walter Zucchini Jr.

Illumination Assistant: Marcelo dos Anjos

Moderator: Thiago Hass

Teleprompter: Flavio Neto de Almeida

Teleprompter Operator: Luis Henrique Uchoa

Filmmaker: Julio Cesar

Video Production

Production: Wunderman Thompson Production
Executive Producer: Carol Pimentel
Post Production Coordinator: Dani Galletta
Edits & Motion: Fernando Lamb, Sergio Mendes, and Rui Barbosa
Audio Producer: Oliver Dherte
Voiceover: Renet Lyon (BR) and Jason Birmingham (Global)

Executive Business Director: Ticiana Gomes

Account Director: Camilla Marcondes

Account Supervisor: Bárbara Costa Pinto

Account Assistant: Gabriel Pereira

Chief Planning Officer: Stella Pirani

Strategy Director: Diana Junqueira

Strategy Manager: Renata Nappi

Strategy Supervisor: Mansur Atique

Strategy Assistant: Nathalia Cristina

Media Manager: Fernanda Galdino

Content Director: Mariana Hasselmann

Content Manager: Nathalie Ferreira