A new bathroom is a major investment and the king of revenues for the DIY/hardware/bathroom-warehouses. During September and October, homeowners start their indoor projects and there is a small spike in the market for bathrooms. All the national retailers in Sweden (app. 11-12 of them) – and the countless number of local businesses – want people to visit their stores with the bathroom money.

Since K-rauta is far from the biggest retailer on the market, we needed to stand out in a very macho, power tools kind of category. We needed to stop alienating women in the marketing and find a way to inspire all households to find their dream bathroom.

We needed to inspire people to find their inner bathroom dream – and to let them know where to turn for expertise. If you can think it, K-rauta can help you build it – no matter the size, shape and color of your dream.

We started with a simple, human insight: Everybody sings in the bathroom...

But what if there was a bathroom optimized for singing? Customized for the most famous opera voice in Sweden? In short, we built Paul Potts’ dream bathroom, documented the entire building process, recorded four TVCs and Verdi’s entire aria “La Donna e Mobile” in it – and created a website where you could buy Paul’s acoustic bathroom tile for tile (or start imagining your own).

Homeowners, 30-55 y/o, upper middle-class and beyond, with a 50/50 split in gender. Studies show that, in Sweden, the woman in the household usually makes the decisions regarding interiors and renovation, while the man is responsible for making it happen. Hence the split.

We needed a softer approach and tonality on a macho market without losing the inspirational heights that can break through.

The insight that everybody sings in the bathroom gave us common ground with the target group. We then chose a voice that people easily could identify as “a great singing voice”. In general, opera-voices are considered the best and most highly trained. However, an elitist opera diva that the average Swede had never heard of would be counterproductive. Paul Potts is a household name in Sweden after his breakthrough in 2007 and the most famous opera voice by far. Also, he’s likable.

In the crowded DIY-category where campaigns usually feature macho men with power tools, the acoustic bathroom for a gentle tenor broke new ground.

Campaign measurements showed that Paul Potts’ Bathroom scored 188% higher than the DIY-category reference on “Inspirational” and 263% higher on “Purchase intent”* However, a new bathroom is a major investment and not something you buy on a whim. The lead times are long, and the purchase lags.

La Donna e Mobile – Bathroom Edition has made it into Paul’s Top 10 on Spotify.

43% of the target group felt that K-rauta strengthened their position as bathroom experts, vs 5% who claimed ‘not at all’