How do you turn a new cleaning solution into a better cleaning experience?

Clorox had developed a new cleaning solution that dissolved dirt and grease, dried quickly and didn’t harm surfaces. But how do you sell yet another cleaning solution in a crowded category? The solution was to transform their technology innovation into an experience innovation. After in-depth consumer research, including over 30 home visits, Ziba’s team of researchers, designers and engineers identified three distinct types of cleaning: the Crisis Clean, the Weekly Wipe, and the Annual Assault. They also discovered that the single biggest reason people weren’t mopping their floors was the hassle and difficulty of dealing with a bucket full of dirty water. If we could “kill the bucket” we realized, we could not only deliver a far simpler, easier customer experience, but create a new cleaning tool and even a new category.

The result was the Clorox ReadyMop, a quick, easy-to-use wet mop system that could clean floors effectively without a bucket. But what truly set it apart was its customer experience…beginning with its in-store retail placement, on the shelf next to the cleaning products rather than off in the housewares aisle. This was made possible by an innovative design from the Ziba team: more compact and over a pound lighter than the battery-powered Swiffer WetJet, and able to break down into a small, shelf-friendly box (including Clorox’s new cleaning solution). It also sold for less than half the price of the WetJet.

Customers didn’t just notice the ReadyMop’s improved cleaning experience—they fell in love with it. The quarter after its introduction, the ReadyMop sparked a 79% growth in profits for Clorox, and a 7% volume growth in its household products division alone. The ReadyMop eventually took the title of Clorox’s biggest product launch in history, with over $200 million in its first year, ranking among the top ten largest consumer products launches of the decade.