Tide Successfully Bridges the Physical and Digital

Written By: TIM DUNCAN Product Growth Lead, Bottle Rocket

Think about the apps you like or use most on your smartphone and chances are none of them include any kind of physical interaction with the brand behind that app. When I wrote this, the top five free iOS apps in the U.S. were TikTok, YouTube, PUBG, Instagram and Snapchat, none of which include a physical interaction with the brand that supports these five apps. The 2020’s will be the decade where apps that bridge the physical and digital divide will start to bubble up to the top of your most used or loved app list.

This happened to me in 2021 with the new Tide app which successfully spans both the physical and digital side of the customer experience equation in a way that reminded me a bit of my first Uber ride. I was left surprised, satisfied, and excited about my future dry-cleaning needs and for the future of customer experiences in general as there is one giant difference between Uber and Tide’s experiences. Uber was a business born on digital with no back history or baggage to deal with. Tide is owned by P&G, an industry stalwart, that has now successfully transformed to meet the needs of their customers in a digital-first manner.

A friend of mine told me about this new app after seeing a set of Tide lockers installed in their apartment complex and using it a couple of times. I am always looking for ways to make my life easier and dry cleaning isn’t something I am ever excited about. I decided to check out the app for myself.

After entering my home address, the Tide app directed me to gather my clothes into a disposable bag for my first time (it comes back in a nice blue clothes bag for future use FYI) and head to the closest locker (which was within walking distance) to drop off my clothes. After being alerted on my phone that my clothes were to be picked up a couple days later, I walked back to the locker to pick up my clothes. The clothes came back in a nice, reusable, branded clothes bag for future use.

I was totally satisfied with my experience and think it is a prime example of a brand that has both successfully transformed digitally and created an experience that bridges the physical and digital divide in a seamless and delightful way. While it’s not an AR filter to turn you into a dog like Snapchat, it provides a key value to me as a Tide customer–it saves me time and makes dry cleaning easy.