As America’s #1 toilet paper, building brand affinity is key to maintaining Charmin’s leadership in a category hellbent on commoditization. As such, the brand tasked us with 4 objectives:

1. Elevate the brand beyond the functional domain of toilet paper.

2. Motivate people to engage with us.

3. Have Charmin own the conversation around bathroom innovation, showing the brand’s obsession with helping people “Enjoy the Go.”

4. Do all this without any paid media support.

No one expects cutting-edge technology from a toilet paper company.

But innovation is actually in Charmin’s DNA. Nearly 100 years ago, Charmin revolutionized how toilet paper is made. So to demonstrate Charmin’s obsession with helping people “Enjoy the Go,” we once again turned to technology to solve an age-old problem:

What do you do when you run out of toilet paper, mid-go?

We invented Rollbot, the world’s first emergency toilet paper delivery robot, designed to bring you a roll of Charmin in your moment of need. All we needed was the perfect place to unveil our creation to the world.

If you’re launching a tech product, there’s only one game in town: the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). So that’s where we went. Alongside brands like Microsoft, Samsung, and Tesla.

Our presence was so unexpected and hilarious, we stole the show, becoming one of the most talked-about brands at CES.

Insight

Everyone poops…even tech reporters. But no one expects innovation from a toilet paper company.

Key Message

Charmin is obsessed with finding new ways for people to “Enjoy the Go.”

Target Audience

Charmin is America’s #1 toilet paper. And everyone poops. So our target audience was everyone.

That said, we realized tech media was an efficient way to reach a mass audience, since the biggest stories in tech generate national coverage and social media buzz.

Distribution Assets

Our working Rollbot prototype was the centerpiece of our campaign. We held press events featuring Rollbot, and invited press to try Rollbot in our booth on the CES show floor. They would sit on a toilet, and Rollbot brought them a roll of Charmin.

We also created films demonstrating Rollbot’s features for press to include in their coverage, and invited press to create their own content in our booth.

CES is massive. You could walk for days and see only a fraction of what’s on display. So we knew that we had to be super smart about reaching oversaturated tech reporters. We followed 3 steps:

Advance Buzz

Before CES, we spent weeks pre-seeding stories and coordinating embargoes with key outlets to build excitement for Rollbot. We focused on national media, local media and morning shows.

Exclusive Access

We leveraged exclusive opportunities to give media a hands-on demo of Rollbot, away from the crowds. Like an invite-only P&G Press Conference, featuring Rollbot, an exclusive VIP press tour of our booth before CES opened, and a featured spot at PEPCOM, a media preview of CES’ hottest innovations.

Live Demos

Once CES officially kicked off, we invited press and influencers to our booth to try Rollbot and create content.

Rollbot was a phenomenon. With no paid advertising, Rollbot garnered 3.8 billion unique impressions across 2,144 articles from 18 countries. CNET alone wrote 7 separate articles about Rollbot. Without being pitched, Stephen Colbert talked about Rollbot on his show and social media all week.

On social, people went crazy for Rollbot, making it one of the most talked-about gadgets at CES, with 69.2 million unique engagements. This drove a 77% increase in social conversations about Charmin, and a 58% increase in social engagement with the brand’s channels. Even other brands got in on the fun - Apple, Chick-Fil-A and Amazon all tweeted offers to help bring Rollbot to market.

Most importantly, Charmin was mentioned in 100% of the coverage, with 99% positive sentiment, ensuring strong brand recognition in a new vertical.

All together, this resulted in a 6% increase in consumption of Charmin following CES.