Rebellion starts in the laundry room.
AAF NSAC 2024 · April 2024
Research · Production · Narrative Development
How do you get Gen Z to wash on cold?
My Roles
Studied Gen Z laundry habits, cold-water myths, and Tide’s cold-tech edge
Ran social listening on how sustainability actually shows up online
Surveyed 18–25s on willingness to change behavior
Interviewed Gen Z shoppers across 3 markets
Turned data into usable insights
Built the narrative from research to creative
Produced digital and social campaign work
Led post-production and tone consistency
Shaped how the work showed up in the final deck
Co-led the final pitch
Why it works
We gave Gen Z permission to challenge the status quo in a place they hadn’t thought to because Tide is the tool that made change possible.
Our messaging tapped into social language, spending psychology, and emotional guilt around overconsumption.
Truth
Tide is engineered specifically for cold water.
Problem
Gen Z, and most consumers, still wash on warm or hot. Despite their environmental values, they don’t trust cold to get clothes truly clean, leaving a cold-built product stuck in a hot-wash world.
Opportunity
Reframe cold as the cooler choice.
It’s the smart, modern, “I get it” way to wash.
Key Questions
How do you balance spending vs. saving? How often do you impulse shop and regret it?
How confident do you feel in the cleaning power of cold? What makes you choose warm vs. cold water? What drives your in-store decision-making? What sources influence your laundry habits?
What we found
Gen Z lives fast
They’re driven by immediacy.
Fast shipping, fast fashion, fast content.
Friction is building
Overconsumption is catching up. They see the waste, feel the guilt, and want better, even as they scroll.
Frugal, also emotional
Deals are great, but they’ll splurge for meaning or identity. A good TikTok pitch? That's worth it.
They question everything.
Except laundry.
They’re skeptical of brands and critical of messaging. They’ve started breaking the rules across every category. They’ve rethought food, fashion, mental health, even sleep.
But laundry is a legacy habit no one’s redefined yet.
Insight
Freedom begins when you
start breaking the rules.
Gen Z loves low-effort, high-impact lifestyle shifts, but no one has given them permission to break the warm wash rule.
Strategy
Position Tide as the brand that matches Gen Z’s stance on being aware of and acting on the necessary changes needed to create a better world through the power of cold wash.
Creative Concept
That’s The Cold Truth.
An integrated campaign designed to spark awareness and long-term behavior change around the benefits of washing cold.
