Betting that two brands can out-market one, Unilever is combining the power of two of its spray brands – I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! and Wish-Bone – to launch Sprays In the City, a new animated series of webisodes. The series, which launched at spraysinthecity.com, features Extra's Mark McGrath, Project Runway's Tim Gunn, and aging heartthrob Fabio.
Raising the bar on branded entertainment, the effort tells the story of Spritzy, the feisty Wish-Bone Salad Spritzers Dressing and Spraychel, the captivating I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! spray. The two sprays pursue love in the big city fridge filled with drama, gossip and excess. They quickly find that their product benefits, like portion control and great taste, make them the center of attention.
This season, Spritzy and Spraychel are asking viewers for help. At the end of each webisode, consumers can take control by voting on the outcome of a cliffhanger. The following week viewers can tune back in to see which ending won the vote. Participating viewers can win one of five 100 dollar gift cards daily and have the chance to win a 10,000 grand prize shopping spree.
The celebrity gossip parody is integrated throughout the campaign, and each communication is entertainment in and of itself. Playing off of the pop culture obsession with celebrity gossip, SpraysInTheCity.Com looks and feels like a gossip blog. The 30-second spot, running on Bravo, VH1, and E! mimics celebrity news shows. Similarly, the print ad parodies celebrity magazine "Hot or Not" lists and will appear in People, In Touch, Star, US Weekly, and TV Guide. Integrating traditional and non-traditional media, the webisodes are also supported via targeted advertising on celeb gossip Websites and blogs such as PerezHilton, PopSugar and the Superficial. Subscribers of DirecTV and Cablevision can watch the webisodes on their televisions at home via an interactive TV channel.
