• by Karl Greenberg , March 4, 2010

Cottonelle, Kimberly-Clark's toilet tissue brand, will take to the Academy Awards broadcast to announce the winner of its "Great Debate" campaign that featured a national poll asking consumers whether toilet paper should be hung so that it rolls over or under. The ads conclude the campaign, but launch something new, as well.

The brand will run a pair of ads during the Academy Awards on Sunday that announce which roll orientation Americans prefer and introduce a new product enhancement.

John Stanwood, Cottonelle senior brand manager, tells Marketing Daily that the campaign -- which started this year with TV ads, outdoor placements, and a Web and mobile strategy -- is the beginning of an ongoing consumer forum for personal hygiene issues. He says the voting process, which ends on Saturday, garnered 500,000 votes with "overs" winning by a 72-28 landslide.

"What we have done is start a two-way dialogue with consumers -- something we haven't seen in this category for some time. And we have news for the brand as well as news about winner of the debate, so it segues into a meaningful dialogue about the brand." He would not divulge what, precisely, the company is introducing on Sunday night, but allowed that it involves an innovation that will give consumers "a better toilet paper experience."

John McCurdy, integrated marketing planner for Cottonelle, says the forums will continue after the "debate" ends. "After we announce the winner, we will continue to have forums for folks to react and have conversations about this category. We have created a mechanism and platform to talk further to consumers about other personal-care areas and routines, so as we look to deliver new products this allows us to have lines of communication with consumers, and then listen to preferences."

Stanwood adds that the Academy Awards makes sense as a property for announcing the results and the new product innovation because it is hugely popular with women "who are the primary shoppers for households and the target for a lot of our communications."

Another Kimberly-Clark brand that will advertise on the Oscars -- actually during the pre-show -- is Poise. The brand recently launched the "1 in 3" campaign featuring a series of Web videos at www.1in3likeme.com starring Whoopi Goldberg, who plays eight different women from the past with light bladder leakage. The initial plan was to keep her on the Web, and run brand ads on TV. The popularity of the videos changed that, says Joe Kuester, senior brand manger for Poise.

"We originally wanted Whoopi to reach women who are not engaged in the issue; we wanted her to drive traffic to [the Web site] so once women got there they could take more time to engage in the issue and brand at their own pace," he says. "When we realized the impact and power of what she had created we went out and made a special ad buy securing a spot in the Oscars red carpet show."

Kuester says the company will run a 60-second montage spot showing Goldberg doing all of the characters. "We think the environment is just perfect: women are watching it, they absolutely love her; she's a celebrity they can relate to."