American Standard with Carmichael Lynch SpongDeclaring a Plunger-Free World: Launching the Champion® Toilet

Overview

American Standard, the world’s leading maker of kitchen and bath products, found that today’s consumers are frustrated with their current toilets. That’s why the company introduced the Champion® toilet, featuring a revolutionary flushing system, to eliminate what Americans hate most about their toilets – from overflows and wasted water to handle jiggling and expensive repairs. With the Champion, Americans could have the confidence to walk away from their toilets and never look back.

Objective

The challenge: Gain press coverage for something as commonplace as a toilet and lead the national Champion launch with public relations. (A national advertising campaign wouldn’t start until 2004, six months after the launch.)

The key strategies involved securing a well-known, home industry spokesperson to anchor a media event, while sharing Champion’s “plunger-free” theme through media materials and opportunities to ignite momentum for an ongoing marketing campaign. The key objectives included: using the media event as a springboard for additional coverage and driving consumers to the Champion’s exclusive retail launch partner, The Home Depot.

Tactics

CLS picked Ty Pennington, the then-star carpenter on TLC’s popular “Trading Spaces,” to host a satellite media tour and the media event in New York City, where he unveiled the toilet amid a plunger-toting Champion Precision dance team and demonstrations that showed how the toilet could flush down 25 golf balls in one powerful swoosh. As part of the media event, CLS created an exclusive “Ty Gets A New Toilet” video of Ty installing the toilet in his own home.

CLS ensured all media materials – from the media kit to a mini-plunger media invitation – reflected a breakthrough look, theme and message that humorously and factually told the Champion story. A key theme: “Say goodbye to your plungers. Say hello to the best thing to happen to toilets since indoor plumbing.” CLS sent the media kit to 600+ editors (print and broadcast) and personally followed up with priority publications.

The launch event was positioned as only the beginning of the Champion consumer rollout and outreach to key audiences, including American Standard sales force and The Home Depot, which were reached respectively through customized CDs and flushing demonstration events.

Results

All objectives were exceeded. Within one month of the launch event, a total of 55 articles and broadcast stories generated more than 20 million gross impressions (112 broadcast minutes and nearly 200 inches of print coverage). In addition, American Standard secured a total of 47 print and broadcast placements before the launch, resulting in more than 17 million impressions. Key placements included: New York Magazine, Philadelphia Inquirer, “Money Gang,” “Kudlow and Cramer,” and Ty’s appearances on “Ali & Jack” and “The Wayne Brady Show.” For the media event, 54 editors attended including the New York Times, New York Daily News, Country Living, House Beautiful Specials and more. Several editors commented it was among the most informative, entertaining product launches.

Finally, Champion sales at The Home Depot after the launch event were up 150 percent, without any advertising support. Today, the momentum continues: two out of every 10 American Standard toilets sold are Champion toilets.