Five years ago, Eric Ryan and Adam Lowry decided
on a course of action that was not unlike David
taking on Goliath. Their company Method, which
offers household products ranging from hand soap
to floor care, would take on the giants of the industry.
Turns out it hasn’t been a fair fight.
When Method launched, cleaning products was
one of the most stagnant and conventional categories
around. Now, thanks to partnerships with Karim
Rashid for packaging designs and Crispin Porter +
Bogusky (CP+B) for marketing, Method has found a
welcome niche for the forward-thinking and forwardlooking
product line.
What makes Method so unique is their philosophy.
In a phrase, their mantra is “be disruptive.”
The first thing you notice about Method products
is the packaging design. After an initial launch in
the San Francisco area, Ryan and Lowry courted
Karim Rashid to help get their products noticed on
a national scale. Method’s partnership with Rashid
would open the door for their entry into national
distribution via stores like Target.
When it came time for their first full-scale
marketing effort in 2004, Method teamed up with
Miami-based Crispin Porter + Bogusky for a campaign
to raise brand awareness and get products in
consumers’ hands. With a budget that might be an
accounting error to the likes of Procter & Gamble
or Unilever, Method had to find a creative way to
be effective. From the many ideas CP+B pitched,
Method decided on an 18-page booklet insert that
would explain their philosophy and offer starter kits
for sale. Oh, and naturally it would feature on the
cover a naked man cleaning house. Is that disruptive
enough for you?
“Those original Karim Rashid [packaging]
designs were very inspirational for us,” says Tim
Roper, CP+B executive vice president and creative
director. “We immediately saw a company that wants
to take some risks.”
Continuing with the disruptive theme, the
booklet’s small size and title—“People Against
Dirty”—stood out in the publications (such as Real
Simple) in which it appeared. Suffice it to say, this
is one booklet that got noticed. And thanks to the
starter kit offers, Method had a way of measuring
its effectiveness. “It’s a pretty good device for getting
direct feedback from people who have seen the
booklets,” says Roper. “I must say in all my years of
advertising, we probably had a more positive wave of
overwhelming response on this first book than anything
I’ve ever worked on.”
While Method was pleased with the overall
campaign effort, they never dreamed that the booklet
would become something with pass-along value.
“One of the reasons why it seemed to work
in this case as a booklet is because Method had a
unique story to tell, and they were doing it for the
first time,” says Mason Reed, management supervisor
at CP+B. “I think those two things combined gave it
a depth and richness that needed to be told, and the
longer format allowed for that. And their brand itself
has a lot of different dimensions: It has a fragrance
story, a social responsibility story, and a design aesthetic
across the board. When you are new and don’t
have the dollars to put this in all of the different
places you would want, [the booklet] allowed us to
tell a deeper, richer story in one place.”
In addition to the booklet, CP+B launched a website
that was equally disruptive and popular. The site,
www.comeclean.com, served as an online confessional
for folks who felt compelled to “come clean.” Only an
unobtrusive icon near the top of the web pages served
as a link to Method’s product information.
So successful was their initial People Against
Dirty booklet that Method published another booklet
insert in 2005. In 2006, Method printed a third
booklet focusing on their laundry line of products.
The next step in the Method story is a more traditional
print campaign launching this fall.
