Early in the days of cause marketing, a bold brand manager at Downy and a stellar team at DeVries conspired to make the brand’s cause commitment the centerpiece of their strategic marketing campaign. Live Action founder David Modigliani directed a suite of documentary media, including a documentary short and a :30 national TV spot, and provided a strategic distribution roadmap for the brand and agency.

Procter & Gamble saw extraordinary returns. Via spokesperson Chandra Wilson’s media tour, including on The View, excerpts from the film reached 14 million TV viewers. The documentary media package drove 6% sales growth in the year of the Downy Touch of Comfort campaign roll-out. The :30 spot increased digital ROI by 50%. Downy’s non-profit partner, Quilts for Kids, saw volunteer numbers boost from 500 to 12,700. P&G Global Marketing Officer at the time, Marc Pritchard, screened the film at Cannes Lions as highlight example of “purpose inspired brand building” and the campaign won a Gold SABRE award for cause-related marketing.