Consumer Behavior Change Collaboration & Co-Creation Marketing & Communications

Tide, NFL Partner to Inspire Football Fans to #TurnToCold

The partnership aims to encourage more than 80 million households of NFL fans to switch to energy-saving cold-water washing in an effort to dramatically reduce consumer greenhouse gas emissions.

Published 3 years ago | About a 4 minute read

Image: The Jacksonville Jaguars played the Dallas Cowboys Aug. 29 in Arlington, TX. | NFL

Tide® has partnered with the National Football League (NFL) to motivate fans to turn their washer dials from hot to cold — to lower their utility bills, as well as their impact on the planet. This football season, the two organizations are teaming up on the #TurnToCold campaign to educate consumers on the benefits of switching to cold-water washing with Tide to not only provide a great clean, but also to help the environment and save money.

“Behavior change on this scale requires significant investment in education and industry collaboration, which is why Tide asked a longstanding partner with a high bar for superior laundry cleaning performance — the NFL — to join our mission to turn to cold-water washing,” said Marc Pritchard, Chief Brand Officer at Procter & Gamble. “When two big brands come together to be a force for good, the potential positive impact is huge. We’re excited to join forces again with the NFL this season and inspire one of America’s largest fanbases to turn to energy-saving cold-water cleaning that’s not only good for clothes, it’s better for the planet.”

The partnership is the next chapter in Tide’s 2030 Ambition to increase US loads washed in cold to three in four, as a part of its mission to make cold water washing the standard for all Americans.

Small change, big impact

Households that switch to washing in cold can save 90 percent energy in the wash cycle and up to $150 in energy bills*, while extending the life of their clothes. Together with the NFL’s reach of 80 million households of NFL fans (over half of US households), the potential cumulative impact of turning to cold is significant. If those millions of NFL fans turn to cold, that would result in 16 billion loads of laundry washed on cold per year — a reduction of 5.6 million metric tons (MT) of GHG emissions and equal to removing more than one million cars from the road.

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“We value our longstanding partnership with Tide and are impressed with their creativity and inspiration behind the #TurnToCold program,” said Tim Ellis, EVP & Chief Marketing Officer for the NFL. “After seeing the incredible influence that two big brands can have when they join forces for good, we are excited to collaborate with Tide on this program and further utilize our NFL platform to motivate our passionate fan base to support a small change that can make a massive impact on our environment.”

If the NFL can trust a clean on cold, so can consumers

With all the sweat, grass and mud stains that come with the game, washing an NFL jersey on cold is the ultimate stress test for a laundry detergent. Tide claims to work better when washing in cold water than the average bargain brand of detergent in hot**; and its newest detergent, Tide Hygienic Clean Heavy Duty 10x, is said to have 50 percent more cleaning power than original Tide and a deeper cleaning technology that gets between fibers to effectively remove both visible and invisible dirt.

According to Tide, its scientists worked with NFL Team Equipment Managers to optimize formulas and settings, to ensure the detergent lived up to its promises. Based on the results, the #TurnToCold campaign is starting with 15 teams (the Atlanta Falcons, Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Denver Broncos, Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Kansas City Chiefs, Las Vegas Raiders, LA Chargers, LA Rams, Minnesota Vikings, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers and the Washington Football Team) committing to make the change — through which the NFL aims to move over 1 million pounds of laundry washed in cold with Tide per year, while inspiring more teams and fans to join in and make the change.

NFL players encourage fans to turn the dial

To kick off the partnership and rally fans to join the movement, NFL teams and players will advocate for the switch through a series of cold-inspired marketing and consumer activations:

Introducing the Tide Cold Washer, the first-ever talking washing machine that reminds consumers to wash in cold. The machines will be released as a limited-edition NFL team-branded series and will be customized with fan favorite players’ voices from 10 teams. Starting on August 31, fans can enter to win one on Tide.com.
To celebrate their pledge to turn to cold and rally more fans to join, committed NFL teams will show support in various ways such as taking to social to share their customized washing machines, blue logos, and even turning their stadium lights blue for this season’s games!
Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan, aka Matty Ice, will join Tide’s Cold Caller crew alongside Stone Cold and Ice-T in a series of TV spots to share the benefits of turning to cold.

For more information about the campaign and for a chance to win, visit Tide.com.

*Annually when using a non-HE machine and switching all loads from hot to cold water, based on average electricity rate of (US,13.3c/kWh) and 8 loads per week

**Tide Power Pods in cold vs. leading baking soda 2-in-1 Pak in hot