The pre-commercials met or exceeded our objectives in ARS and Nielsen IAG research. In ARS, “makes going to the bathroom more enjoyable” scores were commensurate with a :30 (85% for “Pit Stop” and 83% for “Enjoy the Go”). In-market, the pre-commercials scored Brand Linkage at 74% of a :30 and Purchase Interest Shift scored at 82% of a :30. Brand Opinion shifted at or above par with P&G Sponsorship (12%), Nielsen Bath Tissue Branded Entertainment (57%) and Household Products Norms (64%). As time went on during airings, Brand Opinion and Purchase Interest continued to rise, peaking in the final week.

We created a new media vehicle – the pre-commercial – using the 10 seconds leading into the commercial break to let people know that the commercial break is coming, and produced 2 executions “Pit Stop” and “Enjoy the Go,” running on Lifetime & VH-1. This new vehicle merged context and content and helped consumers understand that Charmin makes going to the bathroom more enjoyable by giving the gift of a break. We understood that this brief, simple medium (no voice-over, no music) required that we leverage what have become our key assets: the iconic Charmin Bears. By using them, we were able to be direct in talking about going to the bathroom in a charming and inoffensive way.

We had the opportunity to merge content and context in a completely new way for our strategic target – women who know a quality bath tissue makes a meaningful difference. Our objectives were to leverage television – our targets’ #1 media choice to 1) build top-of-mind awareness of our overall equity (“makes going to the bathroom more enjoyable”), and 2) shift brand opinion at or above norms. We know that these women look to television to be both entertained and informed and usually wait until the commercial break to use the bathroom. A paradox for us, as Charmin would never encourage anyone to hold it in, yet our target is missing our messaging while in the bathroom.