Unilever’s CLEAR, the world best-selling male shampoo brand, has unveiled two of the biggest football superstars as the new CLEAR Men ambassadors, in time for UEFA’s EURO 2024. MullenLowe Singapore has created the brand campaign featuring the two football stars as detectives on a mission to crack the case of a mysterious white trail that has swept across the world.
The humorous film stars Norwegian footballer Erling Haaland as a detective investigating the appearance of mysterious white flakes left behind by male victims, and discovering a whole host of men plagued by hair issues and whose confidence is being stripped by a nefarious bald crime boss placing the wrong shampoo in the hands of the men. The film also features a similar white-flake catastrophe sweeping across Rio de Janeiro, before introducing the second face of CLEAR Men, Brazilian footballer Vinicius JR.
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.”
The film is part of a 360 campaign that involves digital and in-store activations. 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.”
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!”
