MARKETING THE MEGA ROLL
Why do you think Mega toilet paper rolls arrived in our stores? It was a marketing strategy, of course. Consumers always go for getting more. I first became interested in the Mega roll phenomenon after I purchased it and discovered that it did not fit on the toilet paper dispenser in my bathroom. I learned there was more to this marketing strategy than first occurred to me. It is worth considering by all of us business folks.Everyone has a plan for what to do about the dilemma of a roll that cannot be installed in the dispenser because the roll is too fat. I used an empty cardboard roll onto which I carefully rolled enough paper from the Mega roll to make it fit in the dispenser and I now had two rolls. A friend simply set the Mega roll on the edge of the bathtub until enough of it was used and it became the size of an ordinary roll. The Charmin toilet paper company has the perfect answer: go to their website and request a free Charmin Extender. The Extender is a piece that you place through the toilet paper roll and clip into your regular holder to allow the Mega Roll to fit.
Getting a Free Extender is part of the marketing plan. To request a free Extender you must provide the company with your first and last name, your email address, your street, city, state and zip code, your gender, and the date of your birth. Now the company has your personal information that they will use for marketing all of their products to you. Charmin will inundate the recipients of the free Extender with marketing promotions and coupons for purchasing products.
Charmin has a history of unique marketing techniques. Remember Mr. Whipple and his plea, “Please don’t squeeze the Charmin!” And, now the Bears. I could not remember the name of the actor who played Mr. Whipple, so I went to the internet. Actor Dick Wilson played Mr. Whipple. He made more than 500 Charmin toilet paper television commercials; he earned $300,000 a year.
Much to my surprise, there are hundreds of articles about toilet paper on the internet, including “A Review of Charmin Mega Roll Toilet Paper” and “The History of Toilet Paper.” In fact, there is a Facebook page about toilet paper and there is a Wikipedia article about Charmin. Toilet paper, as we know it, was invented in 14th Century China for Chinese Emperors. However, toilet paper in perforated rolls was developed in the 1870s. My biggest surprise is that none of the articles mentioned using newspaper or catalog pages for toilet paper in the outhouses of the rural Midwest; surely, I am not the only person who remembers those days.
Toilet paper is a competitive business. The last time I shopped at HyVee, their shelves included eight different brands–Scott, SoftNGentle, Angel Soft, Country Fare, Northern, Charmin, HyVee, and Cottonelle–and they each had several sizes of one and two ply, and now, the Mega Roll.
Marketing strategy is one of the keys to a successful business. SCORE counselors have assisted many new and existing businesses with marketing and it is one of the segments of our seminar “How to Really Start Your Own Business.” Developing ways to identify your prior customers is one method of target marketing. Charmin is a master at that task. With SCORE’s assistance, you can also become successful.
It is ironic that I write about toilet paper as my last “Message from the Chair” as this is the end of my term as Chapter Chair, pun intended.
Dated September 1, 2009 Topics: Chairman's Message, Marketing and Sales