• by Karl Greenberg , December 2, 2008

Kimberly-Clark's Kleenex brand is launching a consumer promotion around Hispanic Heritage Month (mid-September to mid-October) next year.

The effort, "Con Kleenex, Expresa tu Hispanidad" (With Kleenex, Express Your Hispanic Culture), which begins now, is intended to prompt Hispanic artists to create culturally relevant designs, themes and motifs, using any type of media, which can be transferred digitally onto a Kleenex brand facial tissue carton.

Entries, at www.ConKleenexExpresaTuHispanidad.com, must include a personal statement about what heritage means to them. Consumers can vote for the three winning entries online, in conjunction with judging from the Kleenex brand.

Three grand-prize winners will each receive $5,000, and may have their original designs featured on Kleenex brand upright boxes that will be available in stores nationwide next September and October. Nine finalists will each receive $500.

For a September 2008 study on paper products by Chicago-based marketing firm Mintel, the firm polled 19,378 adults 18 or over. Kleenex was the most-used brand, with 80% of respondents saying it is their brand of choice. Seventy-eight percent of white respondents, 84% of African-Americans, 89% of Asians and 84% of Hispanics say they prefer the brand.

The Mintel survey also suggests that Hispanic and black respondents are less interested in tissue softness than others. "Availability and lower incomes may have forced these respondents to have more experience with low-quality tissues and enabled them to realize that store-brand tissues are often 'good enough,'" says Mintel.

Black and Hispanic respondents are more interested in scented tissues than the average respondent, per the study, while white consumers are relatively uninterested in scented tissues.

Mintel also says Hispanic consumers in the survey are more interested in tissue absorbency than the average.

The firm also says that younger consumers in its survey are generally less concerned with the quality or performance of their facial tissues, and are willing to buy based solely on brand image (packaging) and reputation.

Mintel also suggests that facial tissue marketers emphasize performance in their advertising efforts, with a focus on those who have small children.