Dettol HK highlights the importance of hand hygiene with TVC

In response to World Hand Hygiene Day this Sunday (5 May), Reckitt’s brand Dettol has launched a promotional campaign to encourage citizens to maintain regular handwashing habits. 

It comes as Dettol collected anecdotes related to hand washing from 300 Hong Kong netizens aged between 18 and 65 in March, to understand their hand hygiene habits. The result reveals that one in two respondents failed to wash their hands with hand wash after the toilet, in which 60% of men only washed their fingertips. 

Excuses for not washing hands include cold weather, lack of confidence in public toilet hand wash quality, time constraints, forgetfulness and laziness. The results reflect Hongkongers’ poor hand hygiene.

Also known as “Dettol Wash Your Hands!” (乜手物手 密密洗手), the month long campaign is done in collaboration with creative agency Curious Few, media agency PHD and PR agency Current Global. 

As part of the campaign, Dettol has invited Fatboy from local boyband ERROR to curate a theme song for a TV commercial titled "Germy hands? Wash your hands!" (細菌 hands? Wash your hands!). He acts out various scenarios and performs a catchy handwashing jingle to capture consumers' attention. The theme song aims to creatively deliver the importance of washing hands thoroughly in a lively and fun way.

In a conversation with MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, a spokesperson from Dettol said that while the brand hopes Hongkongers will remember the jingle as a reminder to wash their hands on various occasions, Fatboy's image is fun and down to earth who is the best fit to sing the song.  

The campaign is promoted through OOH in MTR, TV, YouTube, third-party social, owned social, and mega displays at five designated ParknShop outlets with offline promotion on two weekends.

To further encourage citizens to maintain regular handwashing habits, Dettol is giving out prizes when citizens complete the game on its Facebook Page. During the same period, Reckitt will also launch the ‘You buy, we donate’ campaign by providing 5,000 families in need with Dettol hand wash for the next six months in partnership with The Lok Sin Tong Benevolent Society, Kowloon (九龍樂善堂).

In terms of marketing strategies, the spokesperson said the promotion campaign not only aims to drive by the company and brand itself, but also to partner with its customer, ParknShop, and local NGO, The Lok Sin Tong Benevolent Society, Kowloon, as well as to collect a series of "hand trivia" (關你手事) from Hong Kong citizens to catch media’s attention.

Boudewijn Feith, general manager, Reckitt Hong Kong and Taiwan, said: “Reckitt and Dettol believe good health is the essential of good life, while good hygiene is the foundation of good health. However, maintaining regular handwash hygiene seems to be easier said than done for most of the Hongkongers.”

“With online and offline promotion activities, we encourage the public to maintain regular handwashing habits on different occasions by using Dettol Hand Wash series that kills 99.9% of germs," Feith added.

Don’t miss: Dettol HK introduces new cleanliness standard with new campaign

Back in April, Dettol launched a promotional campaign starring Taiwanese actor Greg Hsu to introduce a new standard of cleanliness for clothing.

Also known as “Dettol propod – eliminate odour by killing germs” (除臭先除菌), the campaign is done in collaboration with creative agency Curious Few, media agency PHD and PR agency Current Global. The campaign will run from April to June 2024.

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