A Platform Built on Stains

OMO has spent years celebrating the messes that come with everyday life. Sauce on a shirt, ice cream on a school uniform, or soup spilled at the dinner table all reinforce the brand’s long-standing belief that dirt is nothing to be afraid of. That consistent positioning has helped OMO become one of the most widely used laundry detergent brands across markets around the world.

But the brand recognised something that most campaigns tend to overlook: none of this would be possible without the products that actually cause those stains. Ketchup, condiments, desserts, everyday food brands — they’re the ones making the mess that OMO exists to clean up.

Why “Gratitude is Good” Works as an Idea

The creative leap here is genuinely smart. Instead of talking about OMO’s cleaning performance or repeating the familiar “Dirt is Good” message, the campaign approaches the idea from a completely different angle. It shifts the spotlight to the brands and products that create those stains in the first place. After all, the messy moments caused by spilled sauces, melting ice creams, and everyday accidents are what make OMO’s brand story possible. By thanking those unexpected contributors, the campaign finds a fresh way to reinforce a long-standing brand platform without feeling repetitive.

There’s genuine wit in this. Acknowledging the products that create your reason to exist is the kind of self-awareness that rarely shows up in advertising, especially from a brand operating at this scale. Campaigns of the World sees it as a smart, well-timed use of the brand’s own heritage — less a new campaign, more a natural extension of a long-running idea.

The Execution: Prints, Billboards, and Real Reactions

MullenLowe UK and MullenLowe SSP3 Colombia brought the campaign to life through print ads and outdoor billboards across four markets: Brazil, Thailand, China, and the UK. Each piece focused on the exact moment another product creates the kind of stain that eventually sends someone reaching for OMO.

The execution is remarkably disciplined. Instead of relying on generic messes or exaggerated spills, the visuals zoom in on familiar products and everyday situations. The thank-you message gives the campaign a playful, self-aware tone that feels fresh while staying true to OMO’s long-standing belief that getting dirty is part of living fully.

What makes the idea even stronger is how it extended beyond the ads themselves. According to The One Club, marketing leaders from some of the featured brands publicly embraced the campaign and jokingly promised to keep contributing more stains for OMO to clean. When a campaign inspires participation from the very brands it references, it’s a strong sign that the idea has resonated far beyond the media placements.

Cross-Market Thinking Without Losing the Local

Rolling out a single creative idea across Brazil, Thailand, China, and the UK is no small challenge. Each market comes with its own cultural nuances, visual cues, and everyday habits. Rather than trying to force a one-size-fits-all approach, the campaign succeeds by building on something universally understood: food stains and the moments that create them.

The thank-you concept is simple enough to travel across borders while remaining flexible enough to feel relevant in each market. Whether it’s a local snack, a family meal, or a familiar product, the core idea stays intact while the execution feels rooted in local culture.

Production was handled by Ochurus and Kohler Studio, while the creative work was led by MullenLowe SSP3 in Bogotá alongside MullenLowe UK. The result is a campaign that maintains a consistent global message without sacrificing local relevance.

What Makes This Worth Noting

Many campaigns promise a fresh take on an established brand platform, but few genuinely find one. “Gratitude is Good” stands out because it doesn’t abandon OMO’s long-running idea or simply repeat it. Instead, it reframes it. By acknowledging the products and moments that create the stains OMO is built to clean, the campaign broadens the conversation in an unexpected way.

What makes the idea work is its balance. It’s playful without feeling gimmicky, and self-aware without losing sight of the brand’s purpose. The campaign manages to reinforce OMO’s core belief while looking at it from a completely different perspective.

For a brand that has been associated with the same platform for decades, finding a new angle that feels natural rather than manufactured is a difficult task. That’s what makes this campaign worth paying attention to. It proves that even the most established brand ideas can still reveal something new when approached with the right creative lens.

Credits
Client: Unilever
Agency: Mullenlowe SSP3 & Mullenlowe UK
Production: Kohler Studio
Chief Executive Officer: Francisco Samper
Global Business Leader: William Dixon
Group Executive Creative Director: Eduardo Sallas
Chief Executive Officer: José Manuel Hoyos
Executive Creative Director: Guillermo Siachoque & Jorge Eliecer Pinto
Art Director: Mario Mendoza & Juanita Cuéllar Vergara
Copywriter: Sebastián Téllez Cárdenas & Sara Paz Bolaños
Planner: Edwin Rubiano Pérez
Business Director: Mateo Londoño, Camila Zuloaga & Joseph Doyle
Senior Account Executive: Verity Evans
Producer: Diego Aguilera & Tiffany Bernal
Producer: Ochurus
Producer: Claudia Guerra
Editor: Ryan Heredia
Client: Andrew Veacock
Vice President: Tati Lindenberg

This campaign is about: OMO, Gratitude is Good, Dirt is Good, Unilever Campaign, MullenLowe SSP3, MullenLowe UK, Global Advertising Campaign, Print Advertising, Outdoor Advertising, Billboard Campaign, Brand Platform, Laundry Detergent Advertising, Creative Advertising, Campaign Strategy, Stain Campaign, Creative Print Ads.

“Save the moment”, out of agency MullenLowe Istanbul for client Unilever/Omo, highlights the contrasting perspective of parents and children on the most cherished moments they have shared together.

Omo’s brand equity score has slightly decreased over the years, as well as its market penetration. Therefore the objective was both to strengthen brand equity and to be more relevant to the population as a whole.

Furthermore, the cultural landscape is changing. Kids are growing into adulthood faster, people are increasingly living life through a video screen and strong human relationships are suffering as a result. People are becoming aware that they risk missing out on vivid experiences and valuable memories. Dirt has a significant role to play within these experience.
So the brand had to return to the beginning of its DIG (Dirt is Good) philosophy, reminding people of the importance of getting dirty and of how we all benefit from this.

The film is a social experiment. We asked both parents and children the same question: “What is the best memory that you’ve shared together?” While the parents talked about “big” moments that they thought their children cherished most, the children surprisingly talked about “small” moments that were often taken for not considered important by the parents.

What we learned was that though the future remains fundamentally important, we should focus on the present so as not to miss out on those special moments with our loved ones. “Save the moment” reminds parents of the OMO core philosophy of “Dirt Is Good”, highlighting the pure fun and unforgettable experience of getting dirty and inspiring our children to live and cherish the moment. Dirt goes away but memories stay.

Credits:
Brand: Unilever / Omo
Agency: MullenLowe İstanbul
Creative Group Head: Emrah Akay
Creative Director: Volkan Dalkılıç
Production Company: Dinamo Istanbul (Turkish subsidiary of Casta Diva Pictures)
Producer: Enis Özkul
Director: Kuntay Alpman
DOP: Alp Korfalı

Video related to:
Unilever, MullenLowe İstanbul, Casta Diva Pictures, social experiment, strengthen the brand equity, Save the moment, cultural landscape, Advertising Campaign, Viral Video, Creative Technology Ideas, Innovative Ads, Latest Technology, Social media campaign, Creative advertising ideas, Marketing Ads, Digital Innovations, Out of the box ads, Omo, Unilever global