It’s easy to feel buried by your housework. But what if you were literally buried in laundry?

In a new Facebook campaign called “Less Mess, More Life,” LG Electronics USA wondered exactly that, producing four humorous videos about a woman named Sharon who goes about her day-to-day tasks constantly covered in crumpled, dirty clothes. The campaign also includes a sweepstakes in which people can look through photos and vote for the messiest images for a chance to win a new washer and dryer or a $100 gift card.

Dave VanderWaal, director of brand marketing for LG USA’s home appliances division, says it’s great that people are drawn to the prizes, but he wants them to have an emotional reaction, too.

“Above all, we want people to not necessarily come to enter a sweepstakes, but to really identify with this lady in a pile of clothes because she couldn’t keep up with the laundry,” he says.

If Facebook comments and entries are any indication, that seems to be happening.

First steps

Working with digital agency Publicis Modem, LG spent about six months developing the campaign, from the initial idea up to the Aug. 1 launch. The main through line the company wanted the campaign to have was doing more laundry in less time, VanderWaal says.

The sweepstakes portion has two objectives, he says. First, LG wants people to keep coming back to the Facebook page. Fans can vote every day if they want, he says.

Second, LG was looking to get people thinking about its TurboWash washers and dryers, even if they weren’t necessarily looking for new appliances.

“We were looking for an extension into the general public,” he says. “This campaign wasn’t necessarily targeted at in-market laundry shoppers.”

That’s part of the reason why the campaign is housed on Facebook. LG has a microsite for its TurboWash appliances, but it’s more product-focused, VanderWaal says. On Facebook, the idea is to be fun and relevant, he says, so the company built the sweepstakes to be similar to previous contests, such as the Food Fight from earlier this year.

In that sweepstakes, people answered five simple trivia questions to be in the running for a free refrigerator.

Concurrent cycles

The Less Mess, More Life sweepstakes works like this: People vote for whichever they feel is the messier  of two photos. VanderWaal says the initial idea was to ask fans to submit photos of their biggest messes, but the company eventually opted to go with professional shots of spills and stains. One reason for the change, among many, was that sifting through thousands of user photos would just be too much to handle, he says.

Once users vote, they’re taken to a page where they’re asked for their name, email address, and other information. Participants are also asked a few pertinent questions, such as how many loads of laundry they do each week. Depending on the answer, LG offers an estimate of how much time they could save with a TurboWash washer/dryer set.

The question also gives LG a quick snapshot of its Facebook audience’s appliance use habits. It isn’t data representative of LG’s entire consumer base, not like the data the American Home Appliance Manufacturers collect each year, but it’s got some value, VanderWaal says.

As for the videos, LG is starting a push this week to garner views on blogs and elsewhere on the Web, he says.

Broader strategy

VanderWaal didn’t offer any exact numbers for entries in the sweepstakes, but said they’re exceeding expectations as the campaign rolls along toward its Aug. 31 conclusion.

“We’re really pleased thus far,” he says.

One public way Facebook watcher can tell the campaign is striking a chord, however, is with the number of comments and “likes” LG’s posts about it have gotten. For example, one asks fans to offer captions for a picture of Sharon. So far, that one post has garnered more than 700 comments and nearly 300 “likes.”

“When you start getting those comments, you can tell you’re getting to where you want to be,” VanderWaal says.

That approach is part of a broader Facebook strategy at LG, where most of the daily posts are posed as questions for fans—such as, “How big is your TV?” or, “What Olympic event would look best in 3D?”—rather than announcements.

“It starts a conversation around things other than straight-up your products,” VanderWaal says. “All brands are trying to figure out how to use Facebook correctly, and there’s no magic bullet. Certainly, if you can speak to people conversationally, the way we speak to one another, the way Facebook really works, that’s the goal.”

Matt Wilson is a staff writer for Ragan.com.

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