Objective

In summer 2024, a rare double cicada emergence sent billions of insects swarming across the South and Mid-Atlantic regions. According to AAA, cicada emergences can cause a range of serious vehicle damage. These highly acidic bugs are particularly harmful to a car’s exteriors and protective coatings if left unchecked.

For Mothers®, a brand that began over 50 years ago with a simple tin of metal polish and has grown into a global leader in high-performance car care, the objective was clear: raise awareness about the risk these “icky, sticky bugs” posed to vehicles, to clean cars from potential damage using Speed® Foaming Bug & Tar Remover, and drive sales by positioning the product as the essential solution during the cicada invasion.

Strategy & Execution

Mothers® partnered with SCS and Contobox to execute a cross-channel campaign from May to June 2024, designed to capitalize on this viral news moment. The objective was to get in front of consumers before they even realized they needed a solution—and to do it in markets where the threat was greatest, with cicada swarms posing a serious risk to vehicles in 17 U.S. states.

SCS and Contobox developed a full-funnel media plan that combined geo-targeting with behavioral and contextual signals. The strategy was built on three pillars:

  1. Build Awareness by reinforcing the news coverage of the cicada emergence and raising awareness about the danger these insects posed to vehicles. The creative headline, “The Bugs Are Back!”, and secondary message, “Icky. Sticky. And lots of them.”, were designed to grab attention and align with the urgency of the moment.
  2. Product Education focused on educating consumers about the benefits and effectiveness of Speed® Foaming Bug & Tar Remover. Messaging like “Neutralize them with Mothers® Speed® Foaming Bug & Tar Remover” was featured across channels, explaining how the product neutralizes, removes and cleans vehicles to avoid costly damages.
  3. Cleans Cars and Drive Sales by providing a frictionless path to purchase. Landing pages and interactive programmatic ads offered consumers the ability to buy online or in-store from their preferred retailers, making it easy to act quickly and cleans their vehicles.

We identified high-risk markets based on cicada brood emergence forecasts and geographic impact reports from major news outlets. Media dollars were strategically allocated to these regions where the cicada populations were expected to be most concentrated. The campaign was activated across Google Paid Search, Paid Social, Attentive SMS, Contobox Dynamic Shoppable Ads, as well as organic promotion.

Google Paid Search
The campaign used Google Paid Search to intercept consumers by bidding on cicada-related search terms rather than traditional car care keywords. Messaging was designed to emphasize urgency and damage prevention, such as “Neutralize Acidic Cicada Guts”. The ads featured sitelinks, allowing quick access to the preferred content.

Paid Social
Social ads on Facebook and Instagram, included short form video and Public Service Announcement / National Emergency-style messaging emphasizing that cicada guts can damage windshields, paint, and other vehicle surfaces. Custom audiences were built around automotive enthusiasts, competitors, retail partners and Mothers® first party data.

Attentive SMS
To drive urgency, SMS blasts targeted existing Mothers® subscribers within impacted regions. These personalized messages drove direct traffic to eCommerce pages.

Contobox Dynamic Shoppable Ads
Interactive ads ran programmatically, targeting drivers aged 18+ and appearing on premium inventory. The Dynamic Shoppable ads opened with an animated teaser featuring a swarm of cicadas to capture attention, followed by a rotating content carousel. Users could watch a video, view real-time pricing, find nearby retailers, or add items to their cart without leaving the ad. This seamless integration allowed shoppers to purchase from their retailer of choice, including Amazon, AutoZone, Home Depot, and O’Reilly, and Mothers.com.

The paid campaign was supported by an organic push across Mothers® social channels and their homepage.

Results

The results proved the power of Mothers® full-funnel media strategy. The campaign inspired action particularly across programmatic display and social. Delivering a programmatic engagement rate 71% higher than Contobox benchmarks and driving clicks to retail product pages at a rate 133% above the platform average. On Meta, the add-to-cart rate was 36% higher than the auto category benchmark.

All of this engagement translated into lower funnel results. Mothers® saw a 13.7% lift in Bug & Tar Remover category sales—the largest increase across all its subcategories—and an 8% year-over-year increase in overall sales during the campaign period. Proving that with the right media plan (and a little guts) you can clean up.

Sources

  1. The Cicada Invasion Could Damage Your Car – NBC Chicago
  2. Contobox Internal Benchmarks
  3. Lebesgue: Add-to-Cart Rate Benchmarks 
  4. Circana 2024 Year Sales Review Report

Creative