• by Aaron Baar , April 23, 2014

Toilet paper is not the most exciting marketing category there is. To really get attention with consumers, a brand has to do something bold. Georgia Pacific brand Quilted Northern is going that route by trying to convince consumers to “Stop Wiping.”

It’s not as gross as it sounds. The tongue-in-cheek online campaign’s full theme, “Stop wiping. Start pampering,” is meant to set Quilted Northern apart from competitors by promising a better user experience.

“Toilet paper can be not as an exciting a category as other things,” Frances Whiteside, senior associate brand manager for Quilted Northern, tells Marketing Daily. “We wanted to disrupt the marketplace. It’s really our way of saying toilet paper doesn’t have to be stuffy or boring.”

A series of online videos gives a roll of Quilted Northern a heavily French-accented (i.e., sophisticated) voice. In one video, the roll sits in a china cabinet, explaining that the differences between it and other toilet paper rolls are as similar as those between the fine dining plates and ordinary sandwich plates. (“I’m the wedding china for your bottom,” the roll asserts.) Another video puts the roll on a hardwood deck to offer a demonstration that “wiping” is what sandpaper does to the deck, rather than the pampering Quilted Northern offers. 

“The idea of ‘pampering’ really resonates with our core consumers,” Whiteside says. “The ‘stop wiping’ concept is really a line for the younger audience. Someone who likes something a little more crass and with a little more humor to it.”

The brand is betting heavily on appealing to the younger consumers, making the ‘Stop wiping’ concept a key part of the campaign’s social element. Users who visit the ‘Stop wiping’ site can sign a pledge to stop wiping (and earn coupons for Quilted Northern) and encourage others to follow suit by creating a custom Facebook video that incorporates their own and select friends’ photos. 

The videos, pledges and other campaign elements will be available on the brand’s website, Facebook page and YouTube channel. The brand is also “exploring other avenues,” Whiteside says.