CASE STUDY: How Tempo romanticised toilet paper

Background

Tempo, owned by SCA Tissue, is a household name in Hong Kong synonymous with premium paper hankies. However, the brand has hit a saturation point with the local population already willing to pay premium prices for the product.

To fuel future growth, Tempo chose to enter the toilet paper segment, which makes up of 57 per cent of the total household towel category, according to Nielsen.

By building awareness of Tempo toilet paper (with a soft objective of 14 per cent fan growth on Facebook), the client's aims were to induce product trials and to achieve 4 per cent value share of the toilet paper segment in 12 months' time.

Competitor-brand Andrex used to hold a 10 per cent share as the reigning premium brand in the segment.

Execution

The Tempo ‘Perfect man’ campaign, created by Publicis Hong Kong, broke the mould of toilet-paper advertising by being true to the Tempo brand's character of being surprising and witty with an unusual, slice-of-life take on Hong Kong.

In October 2012, the campaign kicked off with a TVC (see above) demonstrating product benefits through personification. The plot involved a hopelessly-romantic lady who was desperate to find her 'perfect man'. As she took a stroll through the aisles in the supermarket, she fell for a dreamboat of a guy who was masculine (strong) while at the same time thoughtful and tender (soft), like a real gentleman.

The plot finished with a surprise twist when the ‘perfect man’ was revealed to be not quite what he appeared to be.

Outside of TV, embedded QR codes on advertisements led consumers to a variety of behind-the-scenes videos about the making of the spot on YouTube.

The campaign was further supported by OOH and online social engagement on Facebook via a user-generated content element—a photo app.

Results

1.4 million rolls of Tempo toilet paper were sold in three months post-campaign.

Tempo was able to achieve 3.9 per cent value share in merely two months, accounting for 97.5 per cent of the annual objective.

Facebook fans increased by a third. Social-conversation monitoring showed positive discussions in top forums.

The campaign won a gold award at the 2013 HK4As EFFIE Awards in May.