2021 Winner
2021 Winners
Kruger Products L.P.
Unapologetically Human
For the first time in its history, Kruger Products wanted to create a Masterbrand campaign that brought purpose to its suite of Canadian brands: Cashmere, Purex, SpongeTowels and Scotties. Facing a world that was caught in the chaos of Covid and an apparent demand surge and supply chain interruption, Kruger wanted to assure Canadians that they were there and prepared to meet the challenge.
During the first few weeks of Covid lockdown, consumers reacted with understandable uncertainty. Mass rushes to the grocery store caused supply chain issues, which spurred panic buying. Nowhere was this phenomenon more evident than across paper products as hoarding first seen in Australia spread to the shelves in Canada. Fortunately for Canadians, all Kruger products are sourced and manufactured in Canada. Kruger’s CEO, Dino Bianco, was one of the first leaders to step forward with a message of reassurance of supply security in the initial stages of the market panic.
BHLA were tasked with bringing a purpose-based message of reassurance to the Canadian market with the aim of increasing market share and household penetration.
Paper products advertising typically features cuddly little animals or whatever fluffy euphemisms to connote soft. The category always sidesteps showing the products in the situations people actually use them for. Layer on to that a global pandemic and most would assume that the last thing people would want to see is the raw side of humanity. They would be wrong.
Their insight research and inspiration drew from in-market articles on the psycho-sociological impact of Covid. At the time, many brands launched with a chorus of “we’re in this together”, but what we gleaned from their own analysis is that this would ultimately lead to cynicism as the pandemic progressed and the institutions, who they already largely distrusted, failed them.
Consumers, who felt a collective sense of vulnerability were seeking honesty, to feel that things were going to be ok, not because of some Pollyanna reassurance that all will be well, but that someone recognized the beauty in the fragility of our humanity. True humanity existed in the moments that were deemed taboo and remained hidden. We are all human and we are all connected by the fact that we all bleed, have snot, cry tears, go to the bathroom, and make big messes in life.
The strategy became centered on the notion that there is strength in softness. That as humans, our vulnerability is our strongest attribute. This coincided with the key attributes of Kruger products which are designed to service these human moments and are both strong and soft.
BHLA took a category built on shame and avoidance to raw, honest and celebratory of humanity. They created a 90 second film for online (https://bit.ly/2MsRgoc), a 60 and 30 for television, and individual brand 15’s for online media and television, for English and French Canada, all to the thumping sounds of Rag'n'Bone Man’s “Human” for English and Dumas’ “Passer à l’Ouest” for French. The spot featured all original footage and was shot during lockdown in Vancouver and became Canada’s first major commercial shoot during Covid.
They cast a true to Canadian life blend of ethnicities, gender and sexual identifications and even family configurations. All families and representations were real, allowing for additional ethnicity-specific iterations to be created from the original content.
Kruger received several positive unsolicited emails from consumers, store buyers, sponsorship partners and retired employees who communicated how proud they are to be associated with Kruger. From a financial performance perspective, while the category was growing, Kruger grew greater than the category by substantial 30%.
Across all channels nationally, Kruger Products experienced a +2.3 dollar share point increase over 4 brands, which is three times higher than the leading competitor. Kruger Products’ sales increased 30% VYA, outperforming the total paper category. The campaign was mentioned as a key contributor to Q4 sales performance on Kruger’s quarterly earnings call.
During the first few weeks of Covid lockdown, consumers reacted with understandable uncertainty. Mass rushes to the grocery store caused supply chain issues, which spurred panic buying. Nowhere was this phenomenon more evident than across paper products as hoarding first seen in Australia spread to the shelves in Canada. Fortunately for Canadians, all Kruger products are sourced and manufactured in Canada. Kruger’s CEO, Dino Bianco, was one of the first leaders to step forward with a message of reassurance of supply security in the initial stages of the market panic.
BHLA were tasked with bringing a purpose-based message of reassurance to the Canadian market with the aim of increasing market share and household penetration.
Paper products advertising typically features cuddly little animals or whatever fluffy euphemisms to connote soft. The category always sidesteps showing the products in the situations people actually use them for. Layer on to that a global pandemic and most would assume that the last thing people would want to see is the raw side of humanity. They would be wrong.
Their insight research and inspiration drew from in-market articles on the psycho-sociological impact of Covid. At the time, many brands launched with a chorus of “we’re in this together”, but what we gleaned from their own analysis is that this would ultimately lead to cynicism as the pandemic progressed and the institutions, who they already largely distrusted, failed them.
Consumers, who felt a collective sense of vulnerability were seeking honesty, to feel that things were going to be ok, not because of some Pollyanna reassurance that all will be well, but that someone recognized the beauty in the fragility of our humanity. True humanity existed in the moments that were deemed taboo and remained hidden. We are all human and we are all connected by the fact that we all bleed, have snot, cry tears, go to the bathroom, and make big messes in life.
The strategy became centered on the notion that there is strength in softness. That as humans, our vulnerability is our strongest attribute. This coincided with the key attributes of Kruger products which are designed to service these human moments and are both strong and soft.
BHLA took a category built on shame and avoidance to raw, honest and celebratory of humanity. They created a 90 second film for online (https://bit.ly/2MsRgoc), a 60 and 30 for television, and individual brand 15’s for online media and television, for English and French Canada, all to the thumping sounds of Rag'n'Bone Man’s “Human” for English and Dumas’ “Passer à l’Ouest” for French. The spot featured all original footage and was shot during lockdown in Vancouver and became Canada’s first major commercial shoot during Covid.
They cast a true to Canadian life blend of ethnicities, gender and sexual identifications and even family configurations. All families and representations were real, allowing for additional ethnicity-specific iterations to be created from the original content.
Kruger received several positive unsolicited emails from consumers, store buyers, sponsorship partners and retired employees who communicated how proud they are to be associated with Kruger. From a financial performance perspective, while the category was growing, Kruger grew greater than the category by substantial 30%.
Across all channels nationally, Kruger Products experienced a +2.3 dollar share point increase over 4 brands, which is three times higher than the leading competitor. Kruger Products’ sales increased 30% VYA, outperforming the total paper category. The campaign was mentioned as a key contributor to Q4 sales performance on Kruger’s quarterly earnings call.