Scotties Facial Tissues Wants You to Get Its Name Right

Kruger Products brand Scotties Facial Tissues has been around the market for decades, yet Canadians still refer to it as something else — a brand that hasn't been available in the country since last year.

Together with its new agency-of-record (AOR) FCB Canada, the brand hopes to address this in a hilarious campaign that reminds consumers of its name. 

The marketing initiative is marked by a hero spot, where a man undergoes hypnosis therapy, triggering him to say "Scotties" whenever someone sneezes. 

Kruger Products CMO Susan Irving shared in a press release that the company wanted to poke fun at the fact that consumers have been misnaming the popular tissue brand for years, despite having been "proudly serving Canadians for over 60 years."

Irving continued, saying that with Scotties' increased capacity, it hopes to serve as a "national market leader" within its product category. 

FCB Canada CCO Nancy Crimi-Lamanna also chimed in to share the idea behind the campaign. 

"When we saw this brief, we were excited to take it on because, at its core, we needed to change an ingrained behavior — a behavior most Canadians aren’t even aware they’re doing — calling Scotties by the wrong name despite it being the number one facial tissue in Canada," she explained. 

The CCO also revealed that Scotties' campaign was a "bold first brief to take on," but thanks to the commitment of the Kruger Products team, they were able to make it work.

Brand identity serves as the outward representation of a business and is important in projecting a favorable image to a specific audience.

Re-establishing a brand identity based on consumer insight is a great marketing strategy as it helps build recall effectively.

In Scotties' case, using humor in the campaign doesn't only add entertainment value but also increases the chances of successful brand recall and recognition.

Getting the Name Right

In the 45-second hero spot, a man and his friend sit in a living room, until one of them sneezes.

"Scotties," the man shouts, finally getting the name of the tissue brand right. 

This is because he saw a hypnotist and gave him a "sneeze trigger" to shout the brand name whenever someone does the act. 

In a court hearing, he shouted "Scotties" when asked who was responsible for the heinous crimes, and the officer in the room just so happened to be named Scott.

In a game show, the hypnotized man was asked for the names of the two brothers who invented the airplane, to which he responded, "Scotties." 

Lastly, he and his friends enter a forest cave with a sleeping bear. Knowing full well the bear should be left undisturbed, the man tries his best to hold in his trigger response upon hearing his friend sneeze — and fails. 

"Let's get the name right," the screen writes, as the spot ends. 

The new spot from the brand and agency will run on social, digital, and streaming channels. 

Previously, FCB launched a nostalgic Y2K-inspired spot for the food storage container brand Glad, targeting millennials and tapping into their nostalgia.

Editing by Katherine 'Makkie' Maclang