Sure Bets on Endurance With Its Not Done Yet Global Platform

The Consumer Insight Driving Sure's Not Done Yet Strategy in the UK Market

Sure's strategic brief identified a gap between how deodorant advertising had historically been framed and how consumers in the United Kingdom actually experience physical and emotional effort. Rather than anchoring the brand to idealised sporting performance, AMV BBDO identified a broader human truth: that the moments of greatest personal significance arrive not at the finish line but during the doubt-filled middle of any challenge worth taking on.

Planning Director Olivia Stubbings and her team built the platform on the insight that modern consumers — particularly in the United Kingdom — seek products that match demanding, non-linear daily routines rather than a single peak athletic moment. The phrase 'Not Done Yet' was chosen to capture an attitude of ongoing effort, connecting the product's functional Nonstop Protection claim to a psychological state that is universally recognisable across the brand's planned markets in North America, South America, and Europe.

The competitive context in which Sure operates is significant. Procter and Gamble, whose brands include Old Spice and Secret, competes directly with Unilever across the global deodorant and antiperspirant category. The global deodorant and antiperspirant market was estimated at approximately US$25.45 billion in 2021, according to GlobeNewswire, with projections placing it at US$32.86 billion by 2027, representing annual growth of around 4.3 percent, also according to GlobeNewswire. Within that competitive landscape, Unilever and Procter and Gamble together account for a substantial share of category volume, according to Ken Research, making brand differentiation through storytelling rather than formulation a primary lever for sustained market leadership.

By anchoring the campaign in relatable human struggle rather than aspirational sport, Sure moved into territory that direct competitors had not fully claimed, giving the platform both emotional distinctiveness and room to grow as it expanded beyond the United Kingdom across its planned global rollout.

Darius Marder Directs Sure's Not Done Yet Film for AMV BBDO

The creative execution of 'Not Done Yet' centres on a sixty-second film directed by Darius Marder and produced by Caviar, as documented by Creative Salon. Marder, whose feature film work is known for its precise observation of physical and emotional vulnerability, brought a documentary-influenced visual language to the spot that set it apart from the polished athleticism common to personal care advertising.

The film features a range of individuals confronting self-doubt, social judgment, disability, exhaustion, and other barriers in contexts that deliberately extend beyond elite sport. The casting and scenario choices were intentional: by showing people in the middle of effort rather than at moments of triumph, the creative team built a direct visual argument for the Nonstop Protection range's core claim. Discomfort is not the enemy in the film's world; stopping before you are ready is.

AMV BBDO's creative team for the campaign was led by Chief Creative Officer Alex Grieve, with Creative Directors Toby Allen and Jim Hilson overseeing the work alongside creatives Victor Bustani and Ricardo Porto, as credited by Creative Salon and shots.net. Executive Producer Sorcha Shepherd and Production company Caviar handled production. Jim Hilson articulated the strategic-creative link directly, stating: 'No one got anywhere that mattered without stress and discomfort. Not done yet is the attitude that helps everybody move forward.'

The integrated media architecture surrounding the film — spanning television, online video, social, print, outdoor, influencer activity, and football partnerships with Manchester City and Chelsea FC, as reported by The Drum — was built to give the central idea multiple points of contact with United Kingdom audiences. Each channel extension reinforced the same core visual language and tonal register established in the sixty-second film, ensuring coherence across a campaign that would need to hold its identity as it rolled out across Europe, North America, and South America by the end of 2022.

Sure Not Done Yet Campaign Results and Clapboard Score

No independently verified post-campaign performance data for 'Not Done Yet' — such as sales uplift figures, brand tracking shifts, or verified reach metrics — is publicly available at the time of writing. The absence of disclosed metrics is not unusual for a Unilever brand platform at this stage of its lifecycle, particularly one positioned as a multi-year global idea rather than a short-term activation.

Structural indicators of effectiveness are, however, present in the campaign's architecture. The decision to anchor the platform to the launch of a named product range, Sure Nonstop Protection, gives the work a direct commercial purpose beyond brand equity. The planned rollout across North America, South America, Europe, and South-East Asia within a single calendar year — as noted in campaign documentation — signals a level of organisational confidence in the creative platform that is itself a qualitative performance signal. Campaigns that fail early creative validation rarely receive multi-market, multi-channel investment at this scale.

The choice of Darius Marder as director, a filmmaker with significant critical standing following his Academy Award-winning work, as noted by Creative Salon, also reflects a production investment consistent with a campaign built for sustained global deployment rather than a single-market test.

The Drum described the campaign as a relatable effort to challenge the conventions of personal care advertising in the United Kingdom, noting its shift away from idealised physical performance toward a more grounded portrayal of human effort.

Clapboard rates 'Not Done Yet' at 60 out of 100. The score reflects a campaign with a credible strategic foundation, strong production craft, and genuine creative ambition, held back modestly by a creative territory — the motivational endurance narrative — that is well-trodden enough across the broader category to limit its distinctiveness score.