Work

Our Learnings

Strong results invite honest evaluation. Three observations shaped our thinking for future briefs:

The entry barrier influenced the audience profile. A minimum spend of $15.00 is a meaningful threshold for brand switchers and new consumers. The mechanic rewarded existing Dettol loyalists effectively — but a lower barrier would have broadened reach and driven higher entry volumes. Future iterations would explore tiered entry thresholds to capture both audiences.

The prize skewed older and male. Average entrant age was 45, with more male than female participants — likely reflecting the car prize’s demographic appeal. The promotion performed well within that audience but left younger consumers largely unengaged.

Reaching younger consumers requires a different mechanic. In-field observations confirmed that younger Singapore shoppers want immediacy — instant wins, digital entry, social sharing. They won’t wait six weeks for a draw result. They won’t participate in anything that feels like their parents’ promotion. Artwork, rewards, and entry mechanics all need to be built specifically for them, not adapted from a mechanic designed for an older audience. This is a broader truth about promotional design in Singapore that applies well beyond this campaign.

The Challenge

Dettol Malaysia were running a promotion with a car as the grand prize. Dettol Singapore wanted to match that ambition, but in Singapore, offering a car as a prize carries a significant structural problem. Winners typically receive a car without the Certificate of Entitlement, meaning they face an additional outlay of (at the time) up to $80,000 before they can drive it. A prize that arrives with an $80,000 bill is not a prize. It’s a liability.

The brief: find a way to offer a complete, fully driveable car as a grand prize without the budget to buy one outright and incorporate Dettol’s “Be 100% Sure Protection” tagline into the promotional concept.

The Thinking

If the tagline is 100%, the prize should be 100% of a car.

The solution was promotional risk insurance; a specialist technique that allows brands to offer high-value prizes for a fraction of their actual cost. Rather than purchasing a Volvo V40 Cross Country outright, Dettol paid an insurance premium. If the grand prize was won, the insurer covered the full cost of a brand new car, including COE.

The Volvo choice was deliberate. A brand built on safety and protection, a natural fit for Dettol’s own positioning. The prize wasn’t just aspirational, it was on-brand.

The insurance structure also addressed a Singapore-specific complexity, – COE prices fluctuate. Any increase in COE between launch and promotion end date was automatically covered. The prize value was guaranteed regardless of market movement.

The Mechanic

Every shopper spending a minimum of $15.00 on Dettol products in a single transaction at participating stores was eligible to enter by completing an in-store entry form and mailing it in with their receipt.

Weekly Draws ran throughout the promotional period:

• One winner selected each week received a Dettol-branded NETS card preloaded with $500.00
• In week six, an additional 94 winners received Dettol prize packs
• 100 weekly winners in total across the full promotional period

The Grand Draw selected one participant from all valid entries to play the game.

The Game: The selected participant faced 100 sealed Dettol envelopes. One contained the Volvo V40 Cross Country including full COE, valued at $171,000. The other 99 contained a $2,500.00 consolation prize.

One choice. One envelope. A 1 in 100 chance to drive away in a Volvo.

The 100 envelopes tied the entire mechanic back to the brand’s “100%” tagline from campaign concept to the final prize event, the number was consistent and intentional throughout.

Envelopes were prepared and sealed by the insurance provider’s approved assessor, transported securely to the event venue, and remained sealed until the participant made their selection. The event was independently filmed as a verification and security measure.

The Results

The promotion generated the highest number of entries ever received by Dettol Singapore, a very meaningful result for a brand with an established promotional history in the market.