Breathcalypse by Listerine

Objective

Listerine, a leading oral care brand by Johnson & Johnson, launched an innovative metaverse campaign to engage younger audiences and combat bad breath through interactive entertainment. The brand entered the metaverse with an entertaining, comedy-driven activation that positioned oral hygiene as a critical element within a virtual world apocalypse scenario.

Solution

Players created characters in a metaverse open-world city called Complexo developed by 3C Gaming. The game featured a unique mechanic where players woke up with green smoke emanating from their mouths, representing bad breath. Proximity to affected characters caused nearby players to experience increasing stress levels, blurred vision, and an apocalyptic scenario. Players could ward off the bad breath by searching for and using Listerine products available throughout virtual pharmacies and vending machines in the city. The campaign launched with an exclusive live comedy show starring Brazilian actor and brand ambassador Fábio Porchat on October 25, 2022, accessible to players who maintained good in-game hygiene status. The campaign ran for one month.

Results

The campaign generated over 1 million views in less than 12 hours. Players engaged through more than 100 simultaneous Twitch live streams, with a peak of 69,000 concurrent viewers on a single stream. The activation successfully drove significant engagement and reach through live streaming platforms.