SC Johnson: A legacy built across generations

Founded in 1886, SC Johnson is a fifth-generation family company with more than 135 years of history. From founder Samuel Curtis Johnson to current Chairman and CEO Fisk Johnson, the business has remained under the leadership of the same family for five generations.

Long before corporate social responsibility became a global standard, SC Johnson prioritized integrity and respect. At the heart of SC Johnson's culture is a long-standing commitment to earning the goodwill of employees, consumers, communities, and the wider public. This enduring principle ensures that every brand under the SC Johnson banner, including Raid, carries a legacy of trust and excellence.

PHD's partnership with SC Johnson has spanned more than a decade, built around a shared ambition to keep brand storytelling fresh and effective in evolving market conditions.

PHD's partnership of more than 10 years with SC Johnson continues to drive innovative brand storytelling. We partnered with Eskimi to help reintroduce Raid's iconic Peglar Bugs, delivering a high-impact digital campaign designed to reignite attention and brand salience, shared Mia Olivier, Strategy Lead at PHD.

Raid: Keeping insects out of everyday life

For over 65 years, Raid has researched and developed solutions designed to keep insects from interfering with your day-to-day life. From crawling and flying insects to multi-insect protection and targeted solutions for wasps, hornets, fleas, and bed bugs, Raid protects homes and gives consumers peace of mind in moments that matter most.

In a modern marketplace defined by shrinking attention spans and intense price competition, functional messaging is no longer enough.

Amid shrinking budgets and intense competitive pressure, success depends on continually identifying innovative ways to differentiate and deliver impact beyond our scale, mentioned Mia Olivier.

With a broad audience spanning households facing pest problems in South Africa, the objective was clear: ensure Raid is top of mind at the exact moment of need.

Precision through DeepContext

Raid's audience is broad, any household experiencing a pest problem. But the moment of receptivity is highly specific. To maximize media efficiency, Raid utilized DeepContext, an AI-driven solution that understands a webpage's meaning, sentiment, and intent.

DeepContext analyzed over 4.1 million URLs to identify the most relevant contextual environments for Raid. The campaign strategically targeted environments where protection was naturally top-of-mind:

• Garden & Home websites for proactive household maintenance.
• Cooking & Recipe sites where hygiene and food safety are paramount.
• Travel & Camping sites for protection in outdoor environments.
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DeepContext allowed us to reach audiences with precision in highly relevant contextual environments, strengthening Raid's association as the go-to solution for pest control, noted Mia Olivier.

Turning creativity into attention

The campaign used a two-format creative strategy: balancing gamification with an animated banner.

• The "Bug Blaster" game: a rich-media format in which users tapped to eliminate pests. This format delivered 10.77% longer attention time than the animated format and achieved a slightly higher overall attention (+2.5%).
• Animated banner: these creatives were more effective at capturing initial attention, with a +13.78% higher attention capture rate and drove ~300% more clicks compared to the gamified format.

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With the animated banner, more users noticed and viewed the ads, as the view rate was higher (46.71% vs 41.05%). Meanwhile, gamified ads outperformed in engagement depth: once users engaged, they spent more time interacting with the ad (3.24s vs 2.89s) and generated higher total visual attention per 1,000 impressions (1,488 APM vs 1,452 APM).

Results beyond clicks

By transforming a functional product message into an interactive experience, Raid demonstrated a new way forward for FMCG brands, delivering:

• 5.16 million impressions
• 2.16 million unique users reached
• 75% viewability, exceeding industry standards
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A direct comparison between standard whitelist targeting and DeepContext highlighted clear efficiency gains: same CTR, stronger value per click. 

• 3.3% lower CPC with DeepContext 
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DeepContext didn't just match performance, it outperformed on efficiency. It delivered more results for less spend, proving that smarter context drives more efficient media investment.

Also, the use of Attention measurement provided a new layer of validation, proving that Raid wasn't just being "seen", it was being focused on. The campaign achieved nearly double the global APM score benchmark.

Beyond media metrics, the campaign delivered a Brand Lift Study, comparing users exposed to the campaign with a control group that did not see the ads. The results confirmed a strong shift in consumer consideration, with a +4.35 pp uplift in purchase intent.

These results demonstrate that the campaign didn't just capture attention, it converted it into intent.