TV is at the heart of this winning campaign using silence - and potentially embarrassing sounds - to tackle toilet taboos.
“‘Get comfortable” is a 360[-degree] campaign with assets across everything from out-of-home to TikTok to reactive digital vans,” says Matt Stone, senior director – creative design & experience at Andrex owner Kimberly-Clark. “But TV still remains the best way to reach the nation at scale.”
TV still remains the best way to reach the nation at scale.
The humorous and empowering film opens with a boy sitting in a classroom, visibly uncomfortable, then mortified when he accidentally farts.
As everyone stares, he spots the Andrex puppy and is emboldened. Roll of toilet paper in hand, he glides through the classroom on a skateboard to the school toilets as the other children cheer encouragingly, then enters a cubicle and has a poo.
The ad is the latest instalment of Andrex’s “Get comfortable” strategy, which is powered by insights from the brand’s “toilet truths” research which highlights, among other things, that 76% of British kids hold in their poo at school.
Following the brand’s “First office poo” ad, the aim for this latest one was to capitalise on momentum with a film appealing to both children and adults to prompt families to discuss an important topic.
“We talked about not only surfacing the next round of toilet taboos, of which there are many, but to create work that could have a real, tangible change and programme behind it,” says Kyle Harman-Turner, executive creative director / creative partner at FCB London.
The school theme naturally elevated itself beyond others because, they believed, if they got it right, it could genuinely positively impact the lives of millions of children.
“We set ourselves a mission to raise the first unembarrassed generation, helping kids to carry lifelong healthy toilet habits into adulthood,” Stone says.
Finding the right balance between fear and empowerment was an important early decision.
In “First office poo”, 70% of the execution focused on the woman’s fear of pooing while at work and 30% on the empowerment she felt by doing so. For this latest ad, the balance was reversed to make the execution more playful and empowering for children.
Another important decision was the choice of director. “Humour is a critical element of the ‘Get comfortable’ campaign,” Harman-Turner explains. “We aim to make the audience laugh to disarm the subject matter and there are only a select few directors who could handle the subject of poo without landing it in a cheap, ad-y, or crass way.”
Having previously worked with Andreas Nilsson – including on the “You’re so MoneySupermarket” campaign – there really was no other choice. “When it comes to storytelling, casting, and music,” Harman-Turner concludes, “he is an absolute master.”
Another key component was a cinematic look to intentionally distance the commercial from the visual style of much toilet-roll advertising – often centred on soft, long and strong product qualities and dominated by promotional offers.
Instead, the visual took its style cues from beauty and skincare brands. Then there was the pacing and also sound. To cut through the noise, “First school poo” opens with silence as the boy sits at his desk – before the poignant moment is quickly shattered by the sound of the fart. “The plop of confirmation at the end,” Harman-Turner believes, “works as the music soundscape’s perfect sign-off.”
Filming took place in a disused south London school, which offered greater control to adapt the set and craft every little element of the set design.
“As a little hidden easter egg, we even created our own school crest that lined the school walls and uniform badges, called the location the Richard III (Turd) School, and adopted a Latin motto that translates to ‘Conquer the first school poo’,” Harman-Turner points out.
“First school poo” launched to significant acclaim as part of a multichannel launch across TV VOD, social and national OOH during UK secondary school exam week.
Looking back, both client and agency rate an unprompted positive write-up by Adrian Chiles in The Guardian – in which he expressed his regret that he had not seen such an ad when he was an awkward schoolkid – as a particular high.
“It’s been brilliant to see the subject being more widely discussed,” says Stone. “Above all, we’re most proud of the human impact.”
And when it comes to the key to its success, the two are also on the same page. “The single most important thing is to remove the formality and overly process-driven barriers that so often exist between ‘client’ and ‘agency,’” Harman-Turner says. “Great work genuinely comes from great partnerships.”
“Together,” Stone adds, “we have a real spirit of collaboration to push towards the most impactful work possible.”
Second in the May/June Thinkboxes was "The inspection” by Joyful&Triumphant for Warburtons. “Life delivered” by Uncommon Creative Studio for Ocado was third.
Also shortlisted were “Do energy differently” by Saatchi & Saatchi for OVO Energy and “Light, as you like it” by BBH London for Audi.
Agency: FCB London Creative team: Owen Lee, chief creative officer; Kyle Harman-Turner, executive creative director; Rupert Thornborough, art director; Lou Bouge, copywriter Client: Matt Stone, senior director – creative, design & experience, Kimberly-Clark Production company: Biscuit Director: Andreas Nilsson
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Thinkbox is the marketing body for commercial TV in the UK, in all its forms. Its shareholders are Channel 4, ITV, Sky Media and UKTV. Thinkbox works with the marketing community with a single ambition: to help advertisers get the best out of today’s TV.