Cuddly Refresh Rinse puts seven days of sweat to the test in VML campaign

Cuddly has launched a campaign for Cuddly Refresh Rinse from VML, in which DJ and comedian Dom Littrich wore the same activewear suit for seven days without washing it.

The campaign was designed to show the product can remove stubborn odours from activewear. Littrich completed a series of increasingly sweaty challenges, shared across TikTok and Instagram, ending with the Voltaren City2Surf. Friends, instructors, athletes and his partner took part in a "sniff test" along the way.

Adrian Romanin, Marketing Director, Personal & Home Care ANZ, Colgate-Palmolive: "Activewear is designed to work hard, but that also means it can hold onto stubborn odours.

“We wanted to show what Cuddly Refresh Rinse can do in a way that felt entertaining and relevant to how Australians actually use their activewear. So naturally, we decided to make one suit smell as bad as humanly possible.”

Richard Williams, Group Executive Creative Director, Melbourne & Sydney, VML, said: "There’s a very familiar moment when you pull your gym gear out of the wash, give it a sniff and realise the smell somehow survived.

“That was really where the idea started. It’s such an everyday frustration, so we thought it would be fun to take it to a completely unreasonable extreme. If one sweaty workout is bad, what happens after seven days in the same bodysuit and a Voltaren City2Surf run?”

Cuddly social campaign

The campaign recorded more than 25.6 million views across TikTok and Meta. Littrich's rugby training was the most popular piece of content, reaching 3.3 million people.

After the seven days, the suit was washed with Cuddly Refresh Rinse. Littrich's partner then wore it as a final check.

Credits
Client: Colgate-Palmolive (Home Care brand: Cuddly)
Creative Agency: VML
PR Agency: Burson
Media Agency: Wavemaker
Influencer agency: WPP Influence
Talent Agency: Mushroom Group
Talent: Dom Littrich

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