There’s No Scent Like Home in Short Film for Sunlight Floor Care

In D&E economies like Vietnam, urban migration is a key livelihood strategy for vast rural populations. Rapid industrialisation and urbanisation means significant human mobility – rural to urban and the other way round during downturns. This dynamic forms the backdrop of Unilever Vietnam’s latest Sunlight Floor Care ‘Scent of Home’ (Mùi tổ ấm) campaign, which has quickly gone viral in Vietnam with 13 million views in 13 days on YouTube, and still going strong. The brand message has resonated deeply with audiences nation-wide, evoking positive emotions and conversations about family and home, in way that’s quite unprecedented in a functional category like floor cleaners. 

To create this unique brand narrative, MullenLowe Mishra Vietnam, the agency behind the campaign, decided to ditch conventional middle-class escapism themes that are synonymous with the category and instead chose to depict everyday realism, with a strong role of product at the core. MLM collaborated with local Vietnamese singer and music producer duo, Quan A.P and Hua Kim Tuyen to create a home-coming track with great topicality in current times. 

Driven by social media fueled aspirations and dreams scores of young people leave their parents homes in search of the alluring scents of fame and money. There are setbacks and let downs along the way and a realization about family bonds and home. 

The release of the musical campaign coincided with Vietnamese Family Day on June 28th, triggering widespread social conversations about the importance of family bonds and the power of home during these times. 

The campaign is built on the insight that in a world full of beguiling fragrances, deep down the most powerful one that can tug at your heartstrings remains the familiar home scent.

Authentic and familiar scent is an emerging preference in homecare in a market like Vietnam. The campaign task thus was to connect scent to home values. Going by the engagement metrics, clearly Mùi tổ ấm has delivered with a resounding success. 

Vietnamese homes have always used traditional ingredients like lemon and lemongrass as part of their floor and kitchen cleaning daily rituals. Thus, for Vietnamese people this familiar and soothing fragrance is home scent. Sunlight floor cleaner features a fragrance blend of lime and lemongrass. 

The long format music video tells the story of a young man living in a humble fishing village with his parents somewhere in coastal Vietnam. He is yearning for the good life and trappings of wealth beyond the modest village life. One day a clash with his father over the fishy odor of their neighborhoods makes the son pack up and leave his home in a huff, leading him to the city and its elusive scents of prosperity. After experiencing a brief moments of financial gain, his dream stalls and he is burdened with debt. In a twist of fate, he finds himself in a situation where triggered by a familiar scent, the scent he once considered synonymous with poverty, he is transported back to his own home, realising the value of a warm home and loving family. He decides to return, leaving everything behind and embracing the peaceful home scent. 

By depicting everyday realism, the brand shows that it understands the lives of consumers as people and the real world they inhabit. 

Commenting on the success of the campaign, Saby Mishra, CEO, MullenLowe Mishra said: “When people are feeling susceptible, it’s the time for cornerstone brands to show empathy. We are seeing a definite trend among D&E consumers for content featuring realities of everyday life. This is a sign of the times.”

Said Dang Tran, creative director, MullenLowe Mishra: “For this campaign we wanted to depict a real, everyday scenario which people can relate to as people and not just as shoppers or consumers. Our creative approach here was to move beyond escapism and talk about a real home with a human touch. We are pleased that the response from people has been so tremendous.”