Redesigning Clorox2 to Overcome the “Bleach” Barrier
Clorox2 for Colors Packaging Redesign & Relaunch
While managing the Clorox Laundry portfolio on the sales side, I saw a recurring barrier in both shopper research and retailer conversations: consumers equated “Clorox” with bleach. Even loyal brand users hesitated to try Clorox2 on colors, despite it being formulated for that exact purpose.
From a category perspective, the laundry additives aisle is a high-speed decision environment — most shoppers make a choice in under 10 seconds, scanning for obvious benefit cues (“safe for colors,” “whiter whites”) and familiar formats. Competitors like OxiClean were winning on quick clarity, with bold sub-branding and benefit-forward packaging that signaled usage instantly.
Our own packaging buried the “for colors” message as a secondary claim, limiting shelf conversion and leaving us vulnerable to competitors. We also had fragmented packaging across bottles, pouches, and pods, weakening our brand blocking in an already crowded set.
I partnered with the brand and design teams to address these barriers head-on:
Elevated “for Colors” from a secondary claim to the sub-brand name, making it the most prominent on-pack usage cue.
Brought “Bleach-Free” forward as a trust-building message for color-safe laundry care.
Created a clear benefits hierarchy — stain removal, odor removal, color brightening — so shoppers could identify functional value in seconds.
Ensured cross-format consistency to strengthen brand blocking and in-aisle recognition.
For retailers, the story was compelling: improved velocity potential, stronger category clarity, and a more competitive position versus OxiClean. The updates secured broad distribution acceptance across key accounts and unified the portfolio on shelf and online.
Results:
Increased household penetration by +0.2 pts within 6 months of launch
Delivered a +6% velocity lift in key retail accounts post-redesign
Achieved a +15 pt improvement in shelf impact scores in planogram testing
This collaboration aligned sales, brand, and shopper marketing around a unified growth strategy — repositioning Clorox2 as a color-safe essential and helping it regain momentum in the competitive laundry additives segment.
