TakeAway: Quilted Northern’s self-identification as “bath tissue” demonstrates the toilet paper segment’s fondness for euphemism, but a new campaign for Soft & Strong aims for straight talk.
It’s a change in messaging for a brand that ran ads for most of this past decade showing cartoon “Quilters” talking about its products.
However, some people still don’t think it’s candid enough. Exactly how candid do they want to get!?
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Excerpted from Brandweek, “Quilted Northern Ads Try New Approach: Candor” By Elaine Wong, October 3, 2010
Ads for Quilted Northern Soft & Strong show women against a white backdrop speaking their mind. “It’s time to get real about what happens in the bathroom,” says one woman. “Stop all the cutesy stuff,” another adds. A third woman states, “Feeling clean is so important.”
Campaigns for brands in this space often tout that a particular product is “soft” or “strong,” but those happen to be the basic “prices of entry” into the category, said Quilted Northern’s senior marketing director. He claims that people buy toilet paper to get clean.
In the last year, ads from consumer product companies like Procter & Gamble and Kimberly-Clark have opted for straight talk relating to topics like feminine hygiene and adult incontinence.
Nevertheless, rivals in the category are also moving toward a more frank approach. Ads featuring a family of bears for Charmin show what happens when toilet paper “leaves pieces behind.” Kimberly-Clark is encouraging consumers to spread the word about the “freshness” one can achieve by using its Cottonelle Fresh Flushable Moist Wipes.
Edit by AMW
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Full Article:
http://www.brandweek.com/bw/content_display/news-and-features/packaged-goods/e3ifd62d5f2cdeae60e68f7cb7dbafe7bab
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The Homa Files 
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