Product of the Year 2023 Spotlight on… Air Wick

In the latest of the Spotlight series, Reckitt senior brand manager, Charlie Lailey, introduces us to a world of fragrance, seasonal trends and finding innovation in the home.

Tell us about your winning product and why it’s resonated so well with the consumer. 

Air Wick 24/7 Active Fresh Aerosol-Free Automatic Spray ticks a lot of boxes. Firstly, it’s aerosol-free. People are moving away from aerosols across the entire ‘aircare’ category, so being able to provide an alternative was important. Aerosols have been the bedrock of the category over the last decade, so this was a big move for us, and we’ve taken note of consumer demand for more options. In product reviews, this has become one of the most talked about aspects. A second and third reason I think it resonates so well is that it’s an automatic spray, which in our research we found consumers appreciate because it’s convenient but it’s also a 95% naturally derived formula – which was also a big plus for our customers. In a nutshell, it’s efficient, convenient and smells amazing.

What impact has winning a Product of the Year award had on the product? 

It will always be challenging to launch premium offerings within a discretional category, especially at a time of economic turbulence. Despite air care growing in relevance as consumers spend more and more time at home through things like hybrid working, it’s still not considered an essential category compared to categories like home cleaning. Therefore as consumers are less easily enticed to pick up an air care product on a whim, they are looking for that added reassurance their money is going towards quality products, a sense of “try before you buy”… Having an endorsement like Product of the Year is like saying ‘yes, it’s worth spending your money on this.’ That really helps us.

Fortunately, the product is performing very well. We’re seeing a lot of new consumers buy the product with a high level of Active-Fresh sales coming from people who didn’t shop the category before. In comparison to our other products within the segment, Active-Fresh is the fastest selling.

Are there any particular trends you will be tapping into this year in terms of product innovation? 

In the past, this category’s primary focus was to deal with odour, now it’s evolved to become much more about how it makes us feel rather than purely being functional. So, in addition to smelling great, there needs to be this an appreciation and consideration for product aesthetics. Whether they be devices or not, products need to be subtle but impactful, to blend into your home and be cohesive.

And in terms of promoting new innovation, you cannot underestimate the power of the micro-influencer. These are people who make it their business, day-in-day-out, to go out and try the latest in the world of homecare. Tapping into the everyday ‘home-fluencer’ is vital to the success of a new product.

What are the plans and ambitions for the brand/product in 2023 and beyond?

The one big thing we look at in aircare is seasons. There’s nothing more important in this category than having the right fragrance at the right time – and that applies across all our formats… Many people these days change their homes to the seasonal vibe; fresh scents for Spring, warm, cosy aromas for the colder months of the year. We want to continue focusing on that.

One example is Pumpkin Scents. In North America, pumpkin has become hugely popular for the Autumn, and you can slowly start to see its popularity grow in the UK. We saw this as an opportunity and have now launched Airwick Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice in the UK. It’s already performing well.

We don’t want to stop there, we’re looking at what we can do at other times of year to capitalise on these cultural trends in fragrance.

What do you think is going to be the biggest development in your category in the next five years?

Purely as a consumer, air purification is something I’m excited about as a concept, but the challenge is how to make that accessible/affordable to the average supermarket shopper? Right now, it’s very much in the luxury domain. I’m curious to see how it trickles down and impacts the wider aircare market. 

How important is innovation in your category in terms of keeping up with changing consumer demands?

When talking about innovation in this category, fragrance is key. Most of all, we want to excite people by hitting on the right fragrance at the right time. As I mentioned earlier, getting the right scent in the right season, to the right consumer, is vital. When shoppers are standing at a shelf in-store looking at so many types of aircare devices, from reeds to fresheners and auto-sprays, it can be cumbersome. We’re constantly looking for ways to stand apart and new fragrances are a big part of that. Often, the people who notice most are ‘super heavy users’, a subsect of our customers who are repeat buyers and will keep an eye out for new fragrances/formats. That’s the beauty of dedicated category shoppers – they notice even the most incremental changes. 

Do you have any new products that you can tell us about

Our new Active-Fresh bathroom air freshener. It’s part of our new ‘slow-release’ range which we have high hopes for. It smells amazing and looks great too. While we love innovating on our devices we have to respect that they may not be for everyone, therefore having a range of options in other formats is always important to us and this is a format we’ve seen consumers really get behind. 

Describe your winning product in 3 words.

Superior, fragrance, control.

Source: Product of The Year

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