Campaign Plan Proposal PRS 441: Professor Bell Lauren Foley Charmin Toilet Paper Executive Summary Research has proven that children under the age of 8 use too much toilet paper each time they use the bathroom. As a result, minor problems such as the household sewer fills faster and clogged toilets occur along with more serious and world-wide problems such as landfills filling up faster setting dirty emissions into the air. Changes need to be made and Charmin has been brave to step up to the plate and create a difference. Charmin has created a new product that will be known as Charmin for Baby Cubs to educate children on the appropriate amount of toilet paper needed for each use. Numbers 1-5 will be printed on each sheet of toilet paper helping the child count out 5 sheets of toilet paper. On the fifth sheet, a familiar bear from the famous Charmin Bear family will appear signaling to the child that is the proper amount and to tear off the rolled paper. This process teaches children the proper amount needed for each use therefore using a smaller amount of paper reducing toilet paper in the landfill. A survey was published to the public asking for their experience with toilet paper, their preferences on qualities of the toilet paper, how much they are willing to spend on the paper as well as various other needs they find important to have in a new Charmin product. This information was carefully analyzed to help influence the creation of Baby Cubs. Outside influences were taken into consideration and looked at in order to properly market and sell this new product. By comparing it to leading competitors, Baby Cubs became a more stronger, reliable, user-friendly product that is necessary for every child learning to toilet train. This product is brand new and plans to adapt based on consumer reactions, likes, and dislikes. Customer evaluation is very important to Charmin and their main goal is to serve their customers the best products they can. I. Situation Analysis In this case, the situation of Charmin would be to inform and promote their products to their customers in order to convince more people to purchase their products. Charmin is a top brand in the toilet paper industry and hopes to create new ways to promote their products to a growing audience as well as continue to sell the best quality possible for their trustworthy, normal customers. In other words, Charmin hopes to attract new customers while still pleasing the traditional customers who have chosen Charmin since the beginning. The purpose of this campaign is informational with a twist of humor. Throughout most of its advertisements, Charmin tries to mix humor and information together resulting in very creative TV ads and an interactive webpage with the TV ad characters. Customers, who have been with Charmin for some time, understand that there are many types of toilet paper sold through the company including their two most popular types; Ultra Soft and Ultra Strong. Customers are quick to identify a Charmin ad because they are unique, humorous, and include characters that then can be identified on packaging and other types of advertisements. Being so popular, Charmin customers also know that the product is more expensive than other brands but to most, are still worth the purchase. Charmin’s consumers want the same quality they have always received at around the same price they have always paid for. Customers also still want the same customer service and products that have always been available to them. Competitors to Charmin include Cottonelle, Scott, and Andrex. Each of these companies offers some type of toilet paper that fits various consumers’ needs. Some are more well-known than others and offer a variety of other products such as P&G while other competitors offer a cheaper product such as Andrex. II. Brand History Created in 1928, Charmin Toilet Paper was created by the Hoberg Paper Company located in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The paper was designed to resemble ‘feminine fashion’ during the time which an employee described as “charming” resulting in the name Charmin (pronounced “sharmin”) (Charmin). “The genius of the campaign was that by evincing softness and femininity, the company could talk about toilet paper’s actual purpose” (Rodriguez McRobbie). Once Charmin became more successful, the company introduced the 4-roll package in 1932 still including the woman figure on the packages continuing to represent femininity and elegance. “In 1953, Charmin further softened its image by placing a baby alongside the woman. In 1956, the Charmin Lady was bounced altogether, leaving the baby to fend for itself as the brand icon” (Engber). It was not until 1957 that “Procter & Gamble (P&G) acquired Charmin Paper Company. The original Charmin family included paper towels, paper napkins, facial tissue, and bath tissue. P&G eventually discontinued all products except bath tissue, which is continued to distribute on a regional basis” (Charmin). “Mr. ‘Don’t-Squeeze-the-Charmin’ Whipple, introduced in 1964, appeared in hundreds of Charmin ads and at his apex was arguably the best-known brand pitch man in America” (Sauer). Mr. Whipple was an affable grocer who instructed customers to not “squeeze the Charmin” and with those few words became the third best-known man in America besides former President Richard Nixon and the Rev. Billy Graham (Rodriguez McRobbie). Years later, the Charmin bear characters took over the product. According to Daniel Engber, the Charmin bear characters were created by P&G to be part of the new look and promote the products in the early 2000’s. The bears remind children that ‘less is more’ and to whip after using the bathroom with an appropriate amount of toilet paper on TV commercials, webpage ads, and other various print advertisements. According to Charmin, the Bear family consists of five members; Leonard and Molly have three children, Bill, Amy, and Dylan. III. Product The product that I plan on introducing to Charmin is directed to kids and known as “Charmin for Baby Cubs”. Each roll of toilet paper will be stamped with a number 1-5 to remind children of the appropriate sheets of toilet paper for each wipe. Recent studies show that “64 percent of parents of 3-8 year olds think their kids use too much toilet paper all or most of the time” (Cottonelle). Children learning how to count will be able to see, recite, and read the numbers on the squares while unrolling the toilet paper. Each roll will still be the great quality customers have come to love and rely on with just a new print on each square. Along with the large, block numbers on each square; the paper will also remain the traditional quilted pattern with small ABC stacked blocks and bear heads representing and looking like the family used to advertise the products. To begin, Charmin for Baby Cubs will be available in a four-pack to introduce customers to the idea and begin selling the product. Each roll will be the traditional size but in the future would be available in a jumbo size. Overtime, when sales begin to increase and more customers are interested in the product; rolls will be packaged in six and eight groups. Just like the product, packaging will stay very similar to resemble familiarity and tradition. The three bear cubs (Bill, Amy, and Dylan) will be on the front of the package. Being children themselves, the bears will be displayed as loving the product already. Bill will be hugging a package of Charmin to remind customers how soft it is while Amy will be overlooking Dylan count out five squares. Each Charmin product has a distinct color that resembles itself. For example, Charmin Basic is yellow, Charmin Ultra Soft is blue, Charmin Ultra Strong is red, and Charmin Sensitive is green. Charmin for Baby Cubs will be purple. This is a color that has not yet been on the market for Charmin and does not lean or favor either gender. The large Charmin bubble letters will still be printed in white and behind the large purple strip will be green grass and blue sky representing the setting for the bears. For the advantage for future customers, Charmin for Baby Cubs will be conveniently advertised to interest and attract new parents and grandmothers. According to the Survey Monkey results, 98 percent of participants see Charmin advertisements on television. When trying to grasp the attention of new parents or grandparents, Charmin will focus on airing these ads during television shows that may attract this generation. That list consists of but is not limited to various news stations, talk-shows such as Oprah, Ellen, or Dr. Phil as well as TV stations such as TLC. Charmin for Baby Cubs will also be available for purchase in convenient shopping areas for the specific audiences. Just over 70 percent of the survey participants claim to shop for their toilet paper at grocery stores such as Shaw’s or Stop N’ Shop. Landing in second place was large department stores such as Walmart and Sam’s Club with 37 percent. That being said, most of Charmin’s focus will be to deliver their new product to grocery stores for the convenience of their customers and buyers. Less focus will be directed at department stores (although the product will still be available here) and even less at CVS, Walgreens, or online. According to the survey, most participants thought positively of the idea and imagined the product to truly be successful. Many agreed that the thought, purpose, and reasoning were valid and therefore a tangible item for buyers to use over and over again. Sixty percent of survey participants were willing to spend up to a dollar more on kid-friendly toilet paper because they believed in the idea so much. Having such a positive reaction to the product idea creates hope for a very successful and competitive product. IV. 8-pack 12-pack 24-pack 36-pack 72-pack Price Basic $2.47 $6.75 $28.99 --- Ultra Soft $5.97 $5.19 $6.97 $9.97 $33.51 Ultra Strong $3.36 $5.00 $16.49 $9.97 $34.50 Ultra-Sensitive $4.42 $6.97 $9.99 --- Baby Cubs $5.36 $7.97 $14.98 $11.97 $36.50 This table shows a variety of prices depending on the type of Charmin toilet paper and size pack it is. On the far right are five prices Charmin for Baby Cubs will begin at depending on their size. As time continues, customers may begin gravitating towards one pack versus another and voice their opinions on the prices of each. When that happens, it is possible the prices will increase or sales will take place. In the survey, participants were first asked how much they would be willing to spend on an 8-roll set of toilet paper on a given day. Interestingly enough, an equal amount of about 25 percent of participants in each category chose under 5 dollars, between 5 and 6 dollars, and between 6 and 7 dollars. This data was a starting point to truly understand where survey participants stood in opinions of prices of toilet paper. Based on what the product is, new parents and grandparents were going to be our main focus when advertising the product at specific prices. Over 80 percent of females (which also include mothers) do the majority of grocery shopping and errands in a single household. That statistic found within the survey proves that mothers should be targeted much more often that fathers are in order to be most effective. When asking the participants the best way to advertise the new kidfriendly toilet paper to parents, 84 percent of participants agreed that TV commercials are most effective and will reach the widest variety of parents. Studies also showed that 45% of survey responders thought that magazine ads, especially parenting magazines, would be most effective. Being a very unique and helpful lesson, the survey found that most participants were willing to pay more for the product. Charmin for Baby Cubs visually explains to children the proper and efficient amount of toilet paper for each use. Although the statistic was already mentioned once, sixty percent of survey participants were willing to spend up to a dollar more of Baby Cubs. This fact proves that customers are willing to spend more of their hard-earned money in order to purchase a product they believe to be successful. Location and specific areas Charmin for Baby Cubs will be sold was previously mentioned but was found to be most effective and tangible at grocery stores followed by large department stores. These buyers look for the familiar logos, colors and characters on the packaging when trying to find their favorite size and brand of Charmin. When asked what influences them to purchase Charmin, 41 of the 51 participants answered with ‘price’. Next, 26 of the 51 participants claimed it was for coupons and discounts and lastly 34 of the 51participants claimed it was for the quality. That being said, each and every customer of Charmin can be sure that Charmin for Baby Cubs will be created with the same great quality, packaged with the same famous bears, and sold around the same price as its competitors. V. Influences For this new Charmin product, there will be multiple external influences that may impact the Charmin for Baby Cubs Toilet Paper. These various influences are broken down into two different categories: Environmental Concerns, and Social Trends. Other influences, such as Technology & Innovation and Legal & Political Efforts are not as damaging to the successful company. Technology and Innovation To my knowledge, there have been no major technology and innovation advances that greatly affect the creation and expanding of the Charmin toilet paper company. Legal and Political Efforts As of now, there have been no legal & political problems, including lawsuits, found in my research. Environmental Concerns The more toilet paper is used and thrown away, the more rolled paper piles up in the trash and landfills leading to environmental concerns and problems. For many mothers who find their children using too much toilet paper, this has become a growing concern as those children are adding to the growing kilograms. “In 2005, according to the marketing analysis firm RISI, world per-capita consumption of toilet paper was 3.8 kilograms… North American per-capita consumption was highest at 23 kilograms; the lowest reported was Africa, at 0.4 kilograms” (Robbins). Landfills have begun to rise and this soft rolled paper has begun to really raise concern. “According to some green campaign researchers, our love for soft, fluffy, cloud-like toilet paper is backfiring on us, causing more devastation on the environment than gas-guzzling SUVs, energy-sucking mansions, and greasy fast food chains” (Adwell). The fact that toilet paper has become so dangerous proves more environmentally friendly paper needs to be introduced to the public before it is too late. Social Trends Social trends tend to change daily or even hourly depending on social media sites, what famous people are photographed wearing, clever sayings, and so many more factors. Companies must be quick to react to the public and various social trends in order to be successful and reach out to their audience. Charmin has always been known for being a company with fun, interacting, familiar characters, a clever tagline on their ads, and produce commercials any viewer cannot help but chuckle at. Having a very creative team and being owned by P&G resulted in the most buzzed-about brand of the Sochi Games as measured by YouTube views (Horovitz). That being said, Charmin, just like any other company, cannot predict what is in the future for social trends. They appear and companies must react to them to please their audience. Over the years, Charmin has excelled with this task. VI. Product Analysis STRENTHS - Created from a very well-known company that has had a lot of success Sold at a very reasonable price New product for Charmin Chance to help educate children how to use less toilet paper to help the environment WEAKNESSES - OPPORTUNITIES - Compete against other companies successfully Expand business and variety of customers Create new commercials and ads Help more customers or struggling individuals in need Help children learn to “go green” Stamping each sheet slows down manufacturing Manufacturing becomes more expensive Begin competing against successful kid-friendly toilet paper from other companies No profit on item (yet) THREATS - - Cottonelle Kids has been around for some time & has proven to be very successful Reaction of product from customers is unknown Another type of toilet paper thrown away in the landfills This SWOT analysis is broken down into various categories to help understand the company, downfalls, and where is best to market Charmin for Baby Cubs. To begin, there are many strengths of this product beginning with the fact that a very famous and well-known company is creating and selling this product. This already gives the company some authority and credibility when customers see Charmin is behind Baby Cubs. Next, the new line or toilet paper is sold at a very reasonable price and fits right into leading competitors. Although it might be a little higher than other Charmin products, its purpose is also more than simply cleaning up after each use and is educating children each time. This is a new product for Charmin and a chance for the company to gather all of the knowledge they have to create a very competitive product on the shelves. Lastly, this product educates children on the appropriate amount of toilet paper for each use thus helping to save the environment. Like any product, Charmin for Baby Cubs also has weaknesses. By stamping numbers on each sheet, the process of manufacturing a roll slows down. As a result, it takes longer to produce x amount of rolls therefore losing money due to the slowed-down process. Having a brand new product is also a weakness of Charmin as they must work their way from the bottom to compete against very successful companies with similar products. That being said, Charmin also has yet to make an income on Baby Cubs making production even harder. With the start of a new product, there are also many opportunities Charmin can grab a hold of. Being very successful and having a good image gives the company a good chance at competing successfully with competitors. With a new product, Charmin can also attract new customers interested in their item therefore creating a bigger business. Charmin has the chance to create new ads and commercials for the product to air to the public. Although it is smart to keep the familiar Bear family, new story lines or skits can be created. Next, this is a great opportunity to help struggling moms in need and invite them on- board to explain to them how easy training their child can be. Lastly, this product has the chance to help children understand the importance of going green by using the proper amount of toilet paper each use. Charmin understands these children are the next generation and in order to go green, they need to be taught correctly. Lastly, one major threat to this new product is Cottonelle Kids. This product has a similar purpose but uses their iconic yellow lab puppy as a stop sign and puppy prints to lead the way. That being said, Baby Cubs brings learning to the next level introducing numbers for children to count as they rip off the proper amount. This is also a brand-new product for Charmin therefore the reaction of customers is still unknown. The chance of customers reacting negatively to this product is just as likely as customers reacting positively to the product however that is still unknown until customers begin using the toilet paper. Lastly, as sad as it is, a threat to this product is knowing customers see this toilet paper as just another type of paper being thrown away into the landfill adding to the growing piles. Overtime, hopefully customers will see less of this paper being thrown into the landfills hoping to diminish the trash levels. VII. Consumer Evaluation Overall, the results from the survey were interesting; some results predictable while other results were very surprising. In the first question, participants had to choose how much they would pay for an 8-pack of toilet paper and three different choices tied for first place. Under $5, between $5-$6, and between $6-$7 each had 13 participants choose the three choices equaling out to be a little over 25 percent each. This was one of the questions that surprised me as customer evaluations were very sporadic creating a wide variety of results. Question two asked the participant where they normally shop for toilet paper with over 70 percent of participants choosing grocery stores and almost 40 percent of participants choosing Walmart. This result was surprising as well because I always imagined Walmart to sell and supply more toilet paper then grocery stores. Next, the third question asked where participants saw Charmin ads the most and an unsurprising 98 percent of participants chose television. The survey allowed each person to choose more than one answer so magazines, newspapers, and other printed ads as well as online each had 31 percent and 25 percent respectively. This was very unsurprising for Charmin focuses on TV commercials for various television shows. Because so many ads are on TV, question four was also not very surprising. Participants were asked what the best way to advertise a new product designed for kids to parents was. Over 84 percent of participants answered with TV commercials being their number one choice of advertisement. The next question asked the participant a personal question; what influences them to purchase Charmin? When creating the question, I could not predict the results for the question. Over 80 percent of participants said it was for price, just over 50 percent said it was for the coupons and discounts Charmin offers, and lastly 66 percent of the participants agreed quality was the reason to purchase Charmin. As mentioned, I did not know what to expect as results for this question and participants chose a wide variety of answers. Question six asked the participants how much more money they would be willing to pay for a kid-friendly training toilet paper. Although there was no, “not willing to pay more” option, 60 percent of the survey takers chose up to 1 dollar more. That gave me hope the survey audience did agree this could be a great product for they were willing to put more of their money into purchasing the product but I still wasn’t convinced. From this, I asked them the seventh question which asked “do you see this product succeed or not?” and over 84 percent of the people who took this survey said yes. This result was very positive and made me feel more comfortable about marketing and selling Charmin for Baby Cubs. For question eight and nine, I wanted to get to know the person taking the survey a little more. I thought this could help analyze the results and help me understand them even more. In question eight, I asked the participant who does the majority of the grocery shopping in their house and over 80 percent answered with female representing mothers or wives. For the last question, I asked the survey participant their age. I thought this could be very helpful to again analyze results and begin to understand them at a deeper level. The result to this question also surprised me with over 76 percent of the people taking the survey being between the ages of 20 and 30 years old. Throughout my survey, I found some very solid strengths found within the questions as well as some weaknesses or mistakes I made that I would know better for next time. When I printed out my results, I had 51 individuals’ results to analyze. Only needing 20, I exceeded the requirement. I think by having a unique topic and a wide variety of friends on Facebook to send the link to, the survey was a success. Another strength of my survey was the wide variety of questions I asked the participants. I created each one to fit with a part of the campaign booklet requirements so I knew exactly where to use the results in the paper. I felt as though a weakness to this survey was my audience itself. I had put the link on Facebook but a lot of friends my age saw the survey and took it to help out. Although that is great and I thanked them, I would have appreciated more mothers to have helped out and given their feedback. For next time, that is a big opportunity I could try to succeed with. I can find better ways to market and advertise my survey to a different group. That being said, having so many results gave me the opportunity to analyze more results that ultimately helped me add credibility to my paper. Lastly, I did not find many threats in my survey. Charmin created a unique topic and I did not find any surveys like it for threats or competition. Overall, the feedback I received from the survey participants was very positive and helpful. Like I mentioned earlier, over 84 percent of people who took part in the survey agreed that this product would be successful and helpful for children learning the appropriate amount of toilet paper. Cottonelle has an item very similar to Baby Cubs that has been very successful. New parents have adopted to the new toilet paper rolls simply because “the only difference is in the print design” (Cottonelle). When asked if the toilet paper is suitable for toilet training, Cottonelle answered by saying “yes, Kleenex Cottonelle Toilet Tissue is very soft to use and the puppy pictures can help make toilet training fun. Every child who cannot count can learn to tear off at the picture of the puppy.” VIII. Marketing Goals & Objectives Currently, the United States spends more than $6 billion a year on toilet tissue- more than any other nation in the world. Americans, on average, use 57 squares a day and 50 lbs. a year (Rodriguez McRobbie). Changes need to be made so why not encourage children to make the first step by creating such a fun, educational roll of toilet paper. By marketing this product to new moms and grandparents, this product could ease the stress in toilet training and give them an advantage when helping their child. Which parents would not like their life to be a little easier with children learning how to be toilet trained? As far as a budget for this new product and campaign, Charmin hopes to create a successful product by using about 1 million dollars to start up and successfully run the campaign. Forty percent of the million dollars will go towards the media, another 40 percent will go towards the promotion and advertisement field, and the last 20 percent will be saved for Public Relations. This equation will be most beneficial to the public and create the most sales of the product. The Media Plan for this campaign will mainly be TV advertisements. Using the same family of bears, new skits will be created to incorporate Charmin for Baby Cubs. This is the fastest and most effective way when trying to reach our audiences for 98 percent of the suvey takers see Charmin ads on TV. From here, a new clever line will be created that Charmin hopes to use as a hashtag on social media to spread the word even farther. The next 40 percent of the budget will be used for promotion and advertisements. This will help create the new TV ads and skits that will be seen on television and thus creating the new hashtag to spread over to social media. We hope to include Ellen and other daytime talk show hosts to invite a group of new mothers to their studio and give away new rolls of the Charmin for Baby Cubs so viewers at home can learn about the product more and see it again. Next, Charmin will host contests on its website giving the million dollar person who buys the toilet paper a freeyear supply of the toilet paper. By paying attention to the reaction of the customers, Charmin can create and promote the new product in different ways. Lastly, the Public Relations part of this campaign will receive 20 percent of the campaign’s budget. Press releases will be sent out to the pubic informing future buyers of the product. A group of FAQ’s will be available on the website for parents with concerns or worries and the 24/7 customer service line will stay open with any questions for the company. Social media will take up a decent percentage of this part by using clever hashtags and being interactive with the customers who are informed about the product. For this campaign , both traditional media such as press releases, TV ads, and the same old packaging will be included as well as new social media hashtags, interactive tweets, and Facebook contests will all be included. Summing everything together, Charmin is offering new mothers and grandparents as well as babysitters and pre-schools a product that could help toilet training become a more stress-free, easier, and cleaner process. Charmin for Baby Cubs is designed for these children just learning the proper amount of toilet paper and the importance of using only the specified amount. Landfills have begun to raise at a more rapid pace and research shows that toilet paper is not helping and instead become a very dangerous product being thrown away. In order to stop this awful cycle from continuing and growing, a change needs to be put into action. Charmin is taking a brave footstep forward and asking young children to be the change for the future. Charmin’s goal is to teach children at a young age the proper amount of toilet paper needed for each use in order to let them grow up with this knowledge. From here, these children can teach their children and so forth ultimately reducing the amount of toilet paper found in landfills during each dump. In order to create this product, a survey was conducted to help us understand the pros and cons of the product. A variety of ordinary people were asked a series of nine questions and their reactions and answers were documented. With well over the required amount of individuals, very specific and helpful results were documented helping the creation of the product. Some results were predictable while others were very surprising yet helpful. Participants were asked about pricing, advertisements, personal preferences, and where they purchased their toilet paper. Every response was carefully analyzed and used to help the research of the campaign. Outside influences were also taken into account and looked at throughout the process of creating Charmin for Baby Cubs. Competitors were identified and strengths of Charmin’s new product were created to outlast their strengths creating a more durable, trustworthy, and longlasting product. Most importantly, environmental concerns are being looked at. The long term goal of this product will be to help reduce trash (especially toilet paper) in the landfills over the years. By having the newest generation of users begin this task, they can carry this education through their lives and teach generations behind them. This product can help any individual trying to toilet train a child in a positive and helpful way. Although the product is new, Charmin has had years of experience and knowledge about creating great quality toilet paper and this product shall be no different. Charmin for Baby Cubs is a necessity for every child being toilet trained to help create a more positive, easier, cleaner, and greener experience each and every time. Works Cited Adwell, Mandy. "How Much Environmental Damage Is Our Toilet Paper Doing, Anyway?" The9Billion RSS. The Nine Billion, 20 Feb. 2012. Web. 02 Apr. 2014. Charmin. "Charmin Toilet Paper: History of Charmin Toilet Paper | Charmin.com." 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