Closeup: City Hall Of Love - Using Web 3.
0 to make the
world we live in more inclusive
Cleef Chong, Jonathan Nienaber
Source: WARC Awards for Asian Strategy, Silver, 2022
Downloaded from WARC
Oral hygiene brand Closeup created the City Hall of Love, a metaverse destination, as part of its global
campaign to earn media, expand its reach and drive conversions around its brand value of freedom to love.
Closeup wanted to reiterate its brand values of supporting all forms of love and closeness in the face of
political setbacks to equality.
Due to budget, it focused on content creation and reaching digital trailblazers; a metaverse was selected in
which to build a City Hall of Love where couples could get NFT marriage certificates, which represented
permanence.
In partnership with VICE, a couple was recruited to participate and publicise the novel opportunity.
The promotion earned coverage in 95 publications versus a target of 50, reaching 140 million people; the
City Hall of Love had over 20,000 unique visitors and the campaign improved brand scores for
meaningfulness and difference.
Campaign details
Brand: Closeup (toothpaste)
Brand owner: Unilever
Entrant company: MullenLowe Singapore
Idea creation: MullenLowe Singapore
Market: Global
Sector: Oral health
Budget: Up to 500k
Executive summary
Activists, NGOs and brands have historically fought against the structural oppression of love, taking to the streets and
resisting discriminatory laws and norms. Their efforts have raised awareness, changed perceptions, garnered support
and, in some cases, changed laws and regulations. But recently, decades of social and political progress have been
rolled back by the decision of a few individuals (e.g., the United States Supreme Court abortion ruling), even in
democratic and progressive societies. Will a stroke of the pen bulldoze the march towards freedom to love?
Closeup is a brand born during the 1960s sexual revolution. It believes people don't choose who they are attracted to,
and closeness is beautiful; hence, mutual attraction should face no barriers. Taking a creator rather than an activist
mindset, it pivoted from existing efforts to unlock a new territory and empower a hitherto inactive segment of the society
to build a more inclusive world: City Hall of Love. The outcome? A breakthrough use of the metaverse to create real-
world utility.
Market background & objectives
Closeup is a toothpaste brand born amid the 1960s sexual revolution, a period when social inhibitions to free love were
challenged. It believes people don't choose who they are attracted to, and closeness is beautiful; hence, mutual
attraction should face no barriers. But in the past six decades sexism, racism, nationalism, bigotry, xenophobia, mistrust,
paranoia and castes have continued to create distance between people.
A white paper [1] the brand published with Dr Holly Parker, a lecturer at Harvard University, revealed that:
While 8 in 10 youths want to be free to love someone regardless of his/her/their background, fewer than 3 in 5 feel
they have that freedom.
5 in 10 are afraid of discrimination, judgement or public shame.
4 in 10 fear being expelled from or disowned by their family or society.
4 in 5 had pursued unconventional relationships in the past.
1 in 2 kept their unconventional relationships a secret due to the lack of support from family and friends.
The challenge: To legitimise the freedom to love in a way that would stand the test of time.
This challenge wasn't about fighting another structure or barrier. It was about fighting for a world where people are free
to love and legitimise their love.
Objectives and KPIs
The core business was selling toothpaste, so the marketing budget had to be preserved. The brand had to leverage the
power of earned media to optimise its budget for this creative solution, which needed to be built and enhanced over
several years.
Based on these considerations, the following objectives and KPIs were set:
Objective 1 for 2022: Be noticed and seen at scale through earned media.
Longer-term objective 2: Turn curiosity and interest into action (e.g., visits, engagement).
Longer-term objective 3: Drive conversion (actions that break existing barriers to love).
Longer-term objective 4: Strengthen brand meaningfulness and difference.
Insight & strategic thinking
In shifting from 'fighting against' to 'fighting for', the brand transitioned from an activist mindset to a creator mindset,
unlocking a new territory for its purpose.
The history of disruptive innovations has something important to teach. Henry Ford once said, 'If I had asked people what
they wanted, they would have said faster horses'. More recently, Steve Jobs said: 'It's really hard to design products by
focus groups. A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them'.
The best way to drive disruptive changes is to build and introduce the world to a better alternative, before it knows it
needs it.
This led to the insight: To drive real change, first build an alternative reality that people can experience.
Our strategy was to power innovation, not revolution.
Reframing this as an innovation brief reframed our audience definition.
Historically, NGOs and brands targeted the most vocal segments of the community. But, as the white paper revealed,
half of youths who pursue unconventional relationships do so in secrecy because of rejection from family and friends,
and shaming from society. This was where the audience -- trailblazers -- came in.
Trailblazers were typically neither the loudest voice in society nor the most active people fighting for equality. But they
were pioneers and innovators who invested time and effort in new technologies. They tended to be highly social
compared to peers, financially better off and have a degree of influence in their social circles.
The brand looked to trailblazers to co-create a new source of legitimacy for love, unlock a new audience and give them a
platform.
Technology in the service of people
Many marketing innovations put technology before people. Brands often jump on a bandwagon without a real reason.
This resulted in a slew of NFTs, such as replicas of destinations, bars and even virtual hotels in the metaverse, without
commerce integrated; or the use of augmented reality that added hassle rather than enhanced the brand experience.
Innovations must be useful. People must come before technology.
Strategic idea: Give trailblazers a sandbox to trial a new symbol of love.
The term 'innovation sandbox' is a popular phrase in the digital innovation world, used in contrast to a pre-defined path or
process. A sandbox is 'a digital environment and toolset which enables large groups of stakeholders to act autonomously
and without hierarchy in the building of innovative concepts and solutions'. [2] A sandbox is a safe space to explore,
experiment, learn and discover. It gives the new symbol of love the best conditions to blossom. Moreover, the world can
look at it and learn from it in real time.
Implementation
Creative idea: City Hall of Love.
The words 'city hall' were chosen for two reasons: first, it evoked a government administration building. The goal was to
leverage the semiotics of city hall to cue legitimacy. Second, a city hall is a place that has real utility, performing functions
including registration for marriage.
Bringing the idea to life
The goal was to establish a City Hall of Love in a space free from the uncertainties of real-world social and political
pressure.
Decentraland was chosen, one of the leading metaverses. [3] Despite the shortcomings of the metaverse, it is populated
by digital pioneers who participate and co-create content. In addition, Decentraland is decentralised and built on a
blockchain. Therefore, the brand could invest in building this property without fear that a centralised entity would
suddenly change the platform's rules. Decentraland was the perfect sandbox to engage the trailblazers.
The next order of business was to issue a new symbol of love from the City Hall of Love: the NFT Certificate of Marriage.
When love, in all shapes and forms, is immortalised on the blockchain, it stands the test of space and time. Its legitimacy
cannot be invalidated overnight by any court ruling.
First, users sign in to Decentraland with their MetaMask Wallet before entering the City Hall of Love.
Next, they interact with the Cyber Cupid to trigger a window to select their partner's name and propose.
The partner who receives the proposal needs to say 'I do' before they can start to mint the NFT Certificate of Marriage.
Once minted, the NFT will appear at City Hall of Love and is available outside of Decentraland in their MetaMask wallets.
The NFT Certificate of Marriage
Every NFT Certificate of Marriage is recognised and validated by over 222,000 nodes [4] on the blockchain, which is
more legal witnesses than any authority on earth. This is a remarkable victory in itself. Just because the NFT Certificate
of Marriage is virtual doesn't make it less real. It adds an important layer of meaning to how a couple sees their
relationship and how people in their online and offline social circles see them. [5]
When releasing the beta version of City Hall of Love, the brand had another challenge: How to make the metaverse and
NFT human?
It worked with VICE to locate a couple in an unconventional relationship that wanted to legitimise their relationship
through marriage. From there, the event took place organically. This was vital because any attempt to engineer or script
the event would result in a fatal backlash. The result? Proof that getting married in the metaverse is real and human, and
brings the online and physical worlds together.
Further implementation is planned beyond 2022 as this is a long-term investment by Closeup to create a brand property.
Performance
Closeup's City Hall of Love was a sandbox to prototype an alternative way of legitimising the freedom to love. Hence, it
was important to differentiate between results for 2022 and results that will be measured a few years later.
2022 objective: Be seen at scale through earned media.
KPI: Earn coverage from 50 major and niche titles.
Results: In four months, City Hall of Love was covered by 95 titles, which exceeded the KPI. [6]
KPI: Reach 10 million people.
Results: The 95 titles had a combined reach of more than 140m, which greatly surpassed the KPI. [7]
Furthermore, the City Hall of Love gained worldwide media coverage, so there was no need for any media spend.
Longer-term objectives 2 and 3: Turn curiosity and interest into action and drive conversion.
Out of a universe of 300,000 Decentraland users, more than 20,000 unique visitors came to City Hall of Love in four
months. Furthermore, 24 couples have minted their NFT Certificate of Marriage, a promising start. [8]
Longer-term objective 4: Strengthen brand meaningfulness and difference.
The impact of City Hall of Love on the brand can only be measured over time, however, the initial result for 'Closeup is a
brand that celebrates all kinds of closeness/love' earned an impressive 9 out of 10. This became the No. 1 contributor to
meaningfulness and No. 2 contributor on Kantar's index. [9]
Strengthening legitimacy beyond 2022
Only a handful of people will geek out over the number of nodes on the blockchain. To get more trailblazers to join in
trialling and creating this new symbol of love, the brand needs the NFT Certificate of Marriage to have real-world
implications. Moving beyond the inception stage in 2022, the goal is to strengthen the legitimacy of City Hall of Love and
the NFT Certificate of Marriage.
This means building a tangible ecosystem of social benefits linked to the NFT Certificate of Marriage. After all, legitimate
unions in today's world come with social recognition and tangible benefits, such as property purchase, apartment rental,
mortgage, healthcare and pension.
An uphill task? Yes. Impossible? No. And Closeup won't stop until everyone is free to love.
ROI figure
Earned media ROI: 57:1
ROI Explanation
Earned media ROI was calculated using widely adopted PR values for online media publishers and social media content
creators ranging from Tier 1 to 3.
Lessons learned
Closeup fights for a world without barriers to mutual attraction, where diversity is accepted and celebrated so that
everyone is free to turn their mutual attraction into action.
Before the City Hall of Love, the brand strategy was brought to life in three ways:
1. Products: the toothpaste products deliver fresher breath and whiter teeth, giving you the confidence to get close
physically when it matters most.
2. Purpose-driven communications: In the past decade, the brand has taken a stand to deliver messages through its
#LoveRules campaign. The City Hall of Love was another way to bring the brand strategy to life.
3. Purpose-driven brand property: Closeup is a pioneer in bringing brand strategy to life through purposeful tools and
utility (access to marriage despite how unconventional your love may be) rather than through message delivery in a
film or a one-off activation. This is the next iteration of brand-purpose marketing.
Creative assets
Sources
1. Closeup and Dr Holly Parker. Will love always win? A close-up on the freedom to love. 2019.
2. Definition of innovation sandbox from an article by Toby Farren on Medium: https://medium.com/innovation-
playground/the-innovation-sandbox-
d9dfbdd15914#:~:text=An%20Innovation%20Sandbox%20can%20be,of%20innovative%20concepts%20and%20solutions
3. There are several metaverses, such as Decentraland and The Sandbox, instead of a single metaverse.
4. A node is one of the computers that run the blockchain's software to validate and store the complete history of
transactions on the network.
5. To see how real minting a NFT Certificate of Marriage is to the couple and their social circles, watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=WW5NYSK6TLg
6. Unilever, 2022. All results were measured four months after launch.
7. Unilever, 2022. All results were measured four months after launch.
8. Unilever, 2022. All results were measured four months after launch.
9. Unilever, 2022. From Unilever's internal brand health tracking system, Brand Power, in collaboration with Kantar.
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