Unilever’s CLEAR, the world’s best-selling male shampoo brand, has announced two football superstars as the new CLEAR Men ambassadors for UEFA’s EURO 2024. In collaboration with MullenLowe Singapore, the campaign features Erling Haaland and Vinicius JR as detectives on a mission to solve the mystery of a global white trail.
The humorous and light-hearted film stars Norwegian footballer Erling Haaland as a detective investigating the mysterious white flakes left by male victims. He discovers numerous men suffering from hair issues, losing confidence due to a nefarious bald crime boss swapping their shampoo. The film also showcases a similar white-flake catastrophe in Rio de Janeiro, introducing Brazilian footballer Vinicius JR as the second face of CLEAR Men.
Tapping on modern audiences’ love for watching crime dramas on streaming platforms, the film leverages familiar television tropes to create a connection with people and portray the issue of dandruff in a way that is easy to understand.
The choice of Erling Haaland and Vinicius JR as new ambassadors for the brand continues a tradition of CLEAR Men using celebrity endorsements for its brand communications. While the new campaign sees CLEAR continue the affinity with elite football players, the film marks a significant evolution in CLEAR’s approach to communications. The humorous and fun tone of the new film shifts away from the historical portrayal of CLEAR ambassadors as hyper-masculine celebrities that exude bravado, towards a more humanistic, well-rounded depiction that could appeal to a greater number of people.
Elsharkawy Mohamed, Global Brand VP CLEAR Men, said, “Both Erling Haaland and Vini Jr have been making waves globally with their legendary football feats, each milestone in their career a testament to their unwavering excellence. This spirit perfectly aligns with what CLEAR Men stands for as a brand — to be inspiring, pioneering and always pushing boundaries with what we do. Through this partnership, we are excited to spotlight Haaland’s winning spirit and charisma, as well as Vini Junior’s impeccable style and unshakeable confidence.”
Developed by MullenLowe Singapore, the film is part of a 360 campaign that involves digital and in-store activations. The campaign was also launched in a contemporary manner. Instead of releasing a TVC, the creative team used media buys to feature movie-like trailers prior to the launch of the main film, as well as TikTok-styled content as the main form of sustained engagement.
Subarna Prabhakar, Global Business Director MullenLowe Singapore, said, “The new take of this CLEAR campaign, which styles its new football superstar ambassadors as detectives, instead of portraying them as typically excelling on the football pitch, aims to connect with new generations of consumers who are content-savvy and hungry for impactful storytelling. We are also delighted to launch Clear’s partnerships with Erling Haaland and Vinicius JR in a far more digital and non-traditional way, that we hope will create a lot of buzz and get people thinking differently about the issues of men’s dandruff CLEAR has been tackling for decades.”
Erling Haaland said, “I am excited to kick off this new campaign with CLEAR Men! It was a fun challenge to step into a character role and I hope people find it entertaining. It’s a perfect partnership! I’ve had tons of hairstyles and CLEAR Men works great because it is made for men’s scalp and hair, so I don’t have to worry about dandruff, grease, or itchiness.”
Vini Jr said, “I am thrilled to be a part of this brand partnership, proudly representing and celebrating my Brazilian roots. And what better way to do it than by working with the World’s Number 1 Men’s Shampoo!”
