ARCHIVES :: SEPTEMBER 2002 :: MARKETING

The Tissue That Tanked
Marketing Miscues Hobble a Much-Hyped Toilet Paper Product

By Emily Nelson
Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

Last year, Kimberly-Clark, the company that makes Kleenex and Scott tissues, announced "the most significant category innovation since toilet paper first appeared in roll form in 1890." All major television networks, newspapers -- even Jay Leno -- covered the news. The company predicted $150 million in sales its first year.

The product was Cottonelle Fresh Rollwipes, a roll of moist wipes in a plastic dispenser that clips onto a regular toilet-paper holder. The company's hope was that Rollwipes would spur Americans to spend more on regular toilet paper because they would use a wet wipe along with their regular tissue. To back its effort, Kimberly-Clark cited its own research showing that 63% of adults were already in the habit of wetting toilet paper or using a wipe. Ultimately the company spent more than $100 million to develop the roll and dispenser, which it guards with more than 30 patents.

The payoff: almost none. Today, Kimberly-Clark's big invention is still confined to a regional market. Executives say sales are so small they aren't financially significant.

'Splitting Hairs'

The failure of Rollwipes to catch on shows how hard it is for marketers to invent -- or reinvent -- household staples. Consumers' closets already are stuffed full of laundry detergents, fabric softeners, special liquid soaps, even soap-coated wipes. Recent attempts to launch contraptions for home dry-cleaning and water-purifying have fallen flat.

"It used to be easy. You had something that was new to the world, and your job as a marketer was to just make sure people got it," says Marco Marsan, a marketing consultant in Cincinnati who was hired in 1998 by Kimberly-Clark to review the design of an early Rollwipes prototype with consumers. Today, Mr. Marsan says, "companies are splitting hairs" to create new product categories.

On top of that, Kimberly-Clark made its share of marketing mistakes. Hobbled by a product few can discuss without blushing, the company never covered basics such as showing consumers in its advertising and promotions what the product does. Rollwipes' advertising agency, J. Walter Thompson, aimed to create a fun image, with shots of people, from behind, splashing in the water. The ads, which cost $35 million, carried the slogan, "sometimes wetter is better." Experts quickly criticized the ads for not clearly explaining the product -- or helping to create demand. The company says it recently added more explanatory print ads.

And in another marketing flub, Kimberly-Clark didn't design Rollwipes in small trial sizes, which meant it couldn't pass out free samples. Instead, it had scheduled a van, outfitted with a mobile restroom and Rollwipes, to stop at public places in the Southeast in mid-September. The road trip got put on hold after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Another problem: Rollwipes, unlike other wipes in boxes, come in a contraption that is conspicuous in a bathroom -- another strike for people who are already bashful about buying the product. A starter kit, which costs $8.99, includes a beige plastic dispenser that clips onto the spindle of the regular toilet tissue but is about the size of two rolls on top of each other. "You do not want to have to ask someone to redecorate your bathroom," says Tom Vierhile, president of a firm that tracks new product launches.

Executives at Kimberly-Clark decline to discuss Rollwipes. In a discussion with investors last fall, Tom Falk, Kimberly-Clark's president and chief operating officer, said the market for the product is "going to grow slower than we thought." A Kimberly-Clark spokesman says, "There is still a strong feeling that the product will be successful." He adds, "I don't think it's fair to portray it that we're disappointed with the product."

15 Minutes of Fame

In January 2001, Kimberly-Clark couldn't have been more optimistic. It touted its invention to major news outlets and held a meeting with Wall Street analysts and investors. Kimberly-Clark hoped that the hype would create demand from consumers and persuade retailers to make room on their shelves for Rollwipes.

And despite the product's peculiar nature, experts weren't about to bet against Kimberly-Clark, which is known for coming up with odd-sounding products that outsold projections, including pull-on diapers and tissues in decorative boxes. Moreover, Americans consume a lot of moist wipes in other forms, for everything from removing makeup to cleaning their desks.

Illustration: Merle Nacht

But the product wasn't ready to be shipped to stores for another six months. Kimberly-Clark blames "a good part" of the delay on the late arrival of manufacturing equipment. By July, most shoppers had forgotten Rollwipes' 15 minutes of fame. "I know I've heard something about it. I can't recall if it was a commercial or a comedian making fun of it," says Rob Almond, director of housekeeping services for a nursing home in Salem, Va., one of the markets where Rollwipes are available. Mr. Almond has never purchased Rollwipes.

Joan Schneider, a marketing consultant who studies product launches, also faults Kimberly-Clark for wasting money on creating national hype when the product was available only in certain Southern markets.

Unexpected competition also hurt. Procter & Gamble, seeing the buzz generated by Kimberly-Clark's announcement, wanted a me-too product. Seven weeks later, P&G bought out John Marino, a small Boston inventor who had developed Moist Mates, a simpler version of baby wipes on a roll. P&G repackaged Moist Mates under the name Charmin Fresh Mates. P&G shipped Fresh Mates to the same test markets as Rollwipes and started advertising on television the same day.

A P&G spokeswoman says P&G is happy with the product and declines to discuss any expansion plans for "competitive" reasons.