Andrex signs up for guide dogs initiative

by Joanna Bowery, Marketing 01-Sep-05

LONDON - Sales of Andrex toilet roll, made famous by the Andrex Puppy, are to help fund guide dogs' training via a £2.5m tie-up with the Guide Dogs For the Blind Association.

The 12-month partnership, which will be backed with a heavyweight TV campaign, marks the first collaboration between the charity and brand owner Kimberly-Clark for 10 years.

An on-pack promotion, created by SMP, will invite consumers to collect six tokens and send them with £5 to receive a limited-edition Andrex Guide Dog Puppy in Training soft toy. Kimberly-Clark has pledged at least £1.50 to the charity for every toy puppy collected.

The limited-edition toys will come with a detachable blue training jacket, as well as a registration card.

The initiative will be supported by a TV campaign, which breaks on September 28. The ads, created by JWT, feature the Andrex Puppy training to be a guide dog.

In-store, online and PR activity will also back the promotion, which will run for most of next year.

The Andrex Puppy website, which was redesigned and relaunched by SMP earlier this year, will include an interactive section where visitors can register, name and train a 'virtual puppy' to be a guide dog.

Andrex has raised more than £500,000 for animal charities in the past, with previous campaigns having supported Hearing Dogs for the Deaf and the National Canine Defence League.

The Andrex Puppy has been on TV for more than 30 years and starred in the UK's first toilet tissue ad in 1972.

Andrex is the 15th-biggest UK supermarket brand, generating £245m of sales over the past 12 months, according to Marketing's Biggest Brands survey (Marketing, 24 August).

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