Mr. Clean Retires

Source: P&G

Mr. Clean easily makes it to the top 10 biggest brand mascot lists every year, since 1958. So when the brand announced his retirement last month, it sent shockwaves through the marketing industry.

Well, that might be an exaggeration, but it was a bit of a shock. It did leave a lot of us wondering, “how could the brand walk away from all of that equity?”

But upon reflection, Mr. Clean's retirement just might be the smartest move we’ve seen in the household cleaning products category in a very long time. Maybe any category for that matter.

Perhaps the brand isn’t walking away at all, perhaps they’re smartly reinventing.

There, I said it.

One could argue that if you've been the face of a brand since 1958, then perhaps it is time to retire. One could also argue that a high-profile retirement after that many years could make for quite the marketing moment.

That's exactly what happened when Mr. Clean announced his retirement at a press conference recently, absent his signature white t-shirt and wearing a vacation-style shirt instead. While announcing his retirement, we also found out Mr. Clean's full name: Veritably Clean. According to the announcement, Veritably will now be pursuing his personal interests: cooking, hiking, and DJing, while sharing all of these activities on social media.

Hmm, now I get it! I feel an entirely new campaign coming. Is this retirement really a goodbye, or simply a rebranding of a beloved character? Maybe this isn't a goodbye at all but instead a "see you in another form" that keeps Veritably more alive than ever. Perhaps even more interesting given what’s going on in the world, generationally.

Think about it: how do you stay creative as an iconic spokesperson after seven decades in an all-white outfit? You reinvent. You give yourself permission to evolve. So is this a stunt? Buzzworthy content? A pre-stunt building anticipation for something bigger? Probably all of the above.

In a category like household cleaning products, it's genuinely hard to get people talking. Bleach and disinfectant aren't exactly exciting topics. So what do you do? You make the story exciting. You retire your most iconic asset and then hint that he's about to show up somewhere else, in a different form, doing different things. Now everybody's paying attention.

We'll have to stay tuned to see what actually happens next. And that's exactly the point. The brand’s got people wondering, even after all of this time. They’ve got people invested in what comes next.

That's not a goodbye, that's storytelling. That’s building anticipation and keeping people engaged and keeping a brand relevant, especially with a brand mascot you’ve been playing with since 1958.

This little “retirement” just got very interesting. Let’s watch it play out.

What's your experience? JIM