Kimberly-Clark Corporation

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Kimberly-Clark Corporation

351 Phelps Drive
Irving, Texas 75038
USA
Telephone: (972) 281-1200
Fax: (972) 281-1490
Web site: www.kimberly-clark.com

KLEENEX ANTI-VIRAL CAMPAIGN

OVERVIEW

The Kimberly-Clark Corporation, in business since the 1870s, had long been servicing the sick with its medical supply brands and consumer paper brands. By the first years of the twenty-first century health and infectious illness had become a hot global topic. In 2004 a flu vaccine shortage was predicted for the United States. It was at this time that one of the Irving, Texas, company's top brands, Kleenex, was serendipitously poised to introduce a new entrant into the facial-tissue market. Kleenex Anti-Viral tissues hit store shelves in August 2004 in anticipation of the upcoming cold and flu season. The supporting campaign, released in October, was focused on getting the word out to consumers that the product could help stop the spread of seasonal illnesses.

To introduce Kleenex Anti-Viral to American families, the $30 million campaign used television, cinema, print, radio, and online advertisements as well as education programs, coupon inserts, and public relations. Ad agency J. Walter Thompson New York, part of communications conglomerate WPP Group, was responsible for the campaign. The most widely visible element, a humorous TV and cinema commercial called "Guru," came nearly a year after the product's introduction. In it a robed, spiritual-looking man walked through a scenic landscape. Gentle music played as he was shown saving small creatures from certain death. Back at home he sneezed and grabbed the Kleenex Anti-Viral tissue in front of him, only to be mortified when he saw that the tissue box stated that the product "kills 99.9 percent of cold and flu viruses."

Demand for the product exceeded Kimberly-Clark's expectations. In its first months as a retail offering, Kleenex Anti-Viral captured 4 percent of the $1.5 billon tissue market. Research showed that a third of the consumers who bought the product were new to the facial-tissue category. Major media outlets covered the product as a news story prior to its introduction. By the end of 2005 the product's market share was up another point to 5 percent.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

Kimberly-Clark Corporation was founded in 1872 as a paper mill in Neenah, Wisconsin, but it soon branched out into product innovation. The company boasted a stable of brands, which by the year 2000 included national household names such as Scott, Huggies, and Kleenex. In the early years one of the company's most important innovations was a creped cellulose wadding called Cellucotton. A substitute for cotton bandages, it was used to treat wounded soldiers in World War I and soon afterward led to the development of Kotex feminine pads and Kleenex facial tissue. Kleenex, originally introduced in 1924 as a disposable towel for removing cold cream, became a cornerstone of the Kimberly-Clark paper and personal-product empire. Consumers quickly found another use for Kleenex, and in 1930 marketing was changed to show the products as disposable handkerchiefs. Sales skyrocketed. In 1932 print ads showed a homemaker uncomfortably holding by her fingertips a used cloth handkerchief that she was about to launder. The copy read, "World's Worst Job Ended."

The Kleenex name became synonymous with facial tissue, and the company dominated the new market that it had created. Through the years advertising included cartoon ads, the first of which appeared in 1941, when a contest called "True Confessions" was introduced. It challenged the public to come up with a new, creative use for Kleenex tissue; the winners' entries would appear in the comics section of their local papers. In the 1950s the popular cartoon character Little Lulu appeared in the product's first television commercials, giving her "timely tips" for tissue use and singing the jingle "Soft, Strong, Pops Up, Too." The strength of the tissue was the selling point in the 1960s, when Harry James, a well-known bandleader, was shown blowing on his horn with an intact Kleenex tissue secured around the bell. In the 1980s the product was promoted with an award-winning campaign called "Kleenex Says Bless You." Kleenex ColdCare tissues, the company's first significant tissue innovation, was introduced in September 1996 with a campaign created by ad agency Foote Cone & Belding of Chicago. These ultrasoft tissues with aloe and a menthol scent combated competitor Puffs' introduction in the late 1980s of tissues containing aloe lotion.

The 1995 merger of Kimberly-Clark with Scott Paper, a top producer of paper towels and toilet paper, cemented the company's place as the world's leading maker of paper products and put it on the global Fortune 100 list. Unfortunately for agency Foote Cone & Belding, the marriage with Scott also precipitated a change in advertising strategy. The ad agency J. Walter Thompson, or JWT, had already done creative work for the Scott brand when it won the $100 million tissue account for Kleenex and sister brands Scottex and Andrex in North America and Europe in 1999. Kleenex moved on to a new slogan, "Thank Goodness for Kleenex," and was working on making an emotional connection to consumers with a promotion called "Kleenex Moments" to be tied into the upcoming 2004 Olympics. Kimberly-Clark's medical-supply business was also increasing during this time. At the start of the new millennium, consciousness about germs was on the rise, and there was a corresponding increase in the number of hand-sanitizing products and antibacterial soaps. In response to this growing health-focused trend, in 2004 Kimberly-Clark was set to introduce the next big Kleenex extension product.

TARGET MARKET

Kleenex began as a cold-cream-removal product that was originally aimed exclusively at women. Once the product changed its focus, families became its primary target. Kleenex Anti-Viral was no exception. Because Kimberly-Clark's research revealed that families with children were more likely than those without kids to develop colds throughout a season, the new product was designed with family needs in mind. In the press release announcing the launch of Kleenex Anti-Viral, Robert P. van der Merwe, group president of Kimberly-Clark's North Atlantic Family Care division, said, "Through research, we learned that it's increasingly important to consumers to protect their families against common cold and flu viruses." As the major purchasers of household and personal-care items, women, or more specifically mothers, were secondarily targeted by the Anti-Viral campaign. The company saw women as the primary caregivers, often the ones responsible for doctor visits and health maintenance. The Kleenex website thus provided "Mom's Stay-Well Tips" and "Mom's Remedies" as well as recipes, symptom lists, and scenes of caring family interaction.

COMPETITION

Global consumer-products giant Procter & Gamble bought Charmin Paper Company in 1958 and then renamed its tissues Puffs in 1960. Since then Puffs had been a determined second in the race for facial-tissue market share. Even though the word "Kleenex" had long been synonymous with tissue, the supersoft Puffs developed a strong and loyal following. By 1996 it had a nearly 33 percent share of the market, compared to Kleenex's formidable 48 percent. Still, Procter & Gamble beat Kleenex to punch in 1987 with its line extension Puffs Plus with Lotion. With this new line Procter & Gamble began to dip into traditional Kimberly-Clark territory: product innovation.

When Kleenex added another specialized tissue, Kleenex Anti-Viral, to its roster in 2004, Puffs did not have an answer in the form of a competing product. Its parent company, Procter & Gamble, did, however, start what it called an "education campaign," according to an article published in the December 6, 2004, issue of the Toledo Blade. The article stated that Procter & Gamble had hired a public relations firm to spread the word that Kleenex Anti-Viral would probably not prevent colds and flu.

MARKETING STRATEGY

By the closing decades of the twentieth century, line extensions of core brands had become an increasingly important tool for companies such as Kimberly-Clark, whose Kleenex-brand tissues had dominated the market for 80 years. Kimberly-Clark was encouraged in its development of Kleenex Anti-Viral partly because of the growing popularity of germ-fighting soaps and other personal products. In August 2004 the company launched its Anti-Viral tissues, the first product of its kind. That October a $30 million campaign began; timed to coincide with the start of cold and flu season, it consisted of print ads, cable and network television spots, cinema and radio advertising, special events, consumer sampling, coupons, and educational programs. The initial emphasis was on the product and the science behind it. Packaging was an important element. An image of an undulating yellow banner wrapped every new box of Kleenex Anti-Viral, announcing "Kills 99.9 percent of cold & flu viruses." The tissue itself was designed to look effective, with blue dots making a subtle pattern on each sheet. Graphics on the Kleenex website magnified the blue-dotted middle layer, explaining that it was a unique moisture-activated system designed to trap and kill viruses.

Promotion and education was important for the Kleenex brand. Prior to the release of the campaign in October, Kimberly-Clark was successful in publicizing the attributes of the new Kleenex product through means other than advertising. In July 2004 media outlets such as USA Today and CNN's American Morning ran stories about the upcoming product. The cable news show featured its medical correspondent, physician Sanjay Gupta, demonstrating the actual Kleenex Anti-Viral tissues and packaging. Gupta stated that the tissues' ability to kill viruses would probably help to slow the spread of illness to others.

Television spots did not follow until October 2005, when the next cold and flu season began. JWT New York created a clever TV spot that aired on U.S. television and in cinemas and in the United Kingdom as well. Creative director Ty Montague oversaw the agency's production of the spot, called "Guru." In it a robed monk walked through a serene landscape rescuing tiny creatures, including a goldfish and a spider, from dire circumstances. Mystical-sounding music played as he arrived at his spartan domicile. He looked as if he were about to sneeze and then reached for a tissue as a voice-over stated, "Kleenex Anti-Viral tissues trap and kill 99.9 percent of cold and flu viruses in the tissue …" The guru sneezed into it and expressed relief until he read the virus-killing claim on the box. The narrator continued, "That's right, kills." The guru looked stunned and then gazed up to the sky as the voice-over concluded, "Thank goodness for forgiveness. Thank goodness for Kleenex."

UNMENTIONABLE PRODUCTS

Kimberly-Clark and Scott Paper, which eventually became one company in the 1990s, built their fortunes on products that everyone wanted and needed but that were not considered suitable for advertising. During World War I Kimberly-Clark discovered that army nurses were using the company's Cellucotton bandage products for feminine-hygiene purposes. As a result Kimberly-Clark developed Kotex feminine pads, but in the 1920s it faced opposition from many newspapers and magazines, which would not allow advertising for the product. Likewise, stores would not permit point-of-purchase advertising displays and even kept the product off shelves, stocking it behind the counter. Kimberly-Clark persisted and eventually broke those marketing barriers, creating another world-famous brand.

OUTCOME

When Kimberly-Clark bought Scott Paper for $9.4 billion in 1995, the company's market share in some products made great increases, but the merger put a strain on Kimberly-Clark as it tried to integrate the two operations. By 2004 it had gone through a reorganization and needed a winning new product. Hopes were high for Kleenex Anti-Viral, and early statistics indicated that the new product had contributed to improved overall sales for Kimberly-Clark. The company reported that its consumer-tissue revenues, which accounted for 36 percent of the company's total revenues, were a healthy $5.8 billion worldwide in 2005. In the August 6, 2005, issue of Grocer, Matt Muniz, Kleenex Anti-Viral brand manager, described a promising breakthrough: "In the U.S. we found that after six months 35 percent of Kleenex Anti-Viral tissues buyers were new to the facial tissue category." In its first months Kleenex Anti-Viral captured 4 percent of the $1.5 billon tissue market. As 2005 came to a close, the new product had increased its market share to 5 percent and had posted more than $50 million in sales, not counting those at the nation's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, or other discount outlets.