Andrex: The toilet tissue brand's drive for social-media engagement has taken a personal turn

So, presented with this week's apparent luminaries of consumer engagement, I wondered which one to choose.

We all know that producing a campaign is a long, arduous and delicate process these days, so well done everyone. They're all winners, right? They're all out there, and this select bunch has registered sufficiently on prompted awareness to suggest a particularly astute piece of judgement by both client and agency, yes? Hmm.

Looking at the list, hopes of an easy 500 words of envy and praise for a new benchmark of bold, insightful and persuasive thinking were short-lived. Never mind, though; there are ads there that I can be positive about, and there's no point picking out the one-legged, asthmatic gazelle with cramp at the back of the pack. Far too easy. And not constructive.

Then Andrex goes and invites me to go online and tell it whether I 'scrunch' or 'fold'. Really? No, really? For crying out loud (whatever that means).

In the TV spot, we're presented with a series of individuals who proudly tell us how they wipe their backsides. Yes, proudly. Then we're asked to help good old Andrex in its online poll to find out whether we're a nation of 'scrunchers' or 'folders'.

Now, I'm a big fan of interactive campaigns that are deliberately controversial, igniting widespread public debate to ultimately build consumer advocacy.

But who honestly thought that anyone in their right mind wants to disclose or discuss, on social media, how they wipe their backside?

Whatever anyone does when on the toilet is about as private a subject as you get. That's why we put locks on the inside of the doors, for Christ's sake.

Yes, the campaign's been noticed - but for the wrong reason. From what I've seen, the consensus of online opinion is negative.

How on earth could it make people more predisposed to buying Andrex toilet tissue the next time they're trundling their trolley down the supermarket aisles?

We all understood the cute puppy dragging the roll of Andrex round the house - 'Soft, strong and very, very long'. Product benefit - hell, three of 'em. The puppy gave it a brand icon that's created immense, emotionally driven brand loyalty ever since.

Look on the Andrex Facebook page. There are random photos of similar puppies getting thousands of 'likes'. Meanwhile, as far as I could see, the new 'scrunch or fold' campaign seems to have a total of 157.

I would, genuinely, like to think that I've fallen into a clever trap. That I've got it all wrong, and in doing so I've inadvertently perpetuated attention to it. Whoops. And one day soon, the genius of it will be revealed and we'll all be lifelong Andrex devotees.

My fear, though, is that the example of some brilliant digital advertising ideas that created huge momentum, by harnessing the power of public opinion and the cost-effective vehicle of social media, has inspired something that just isn't going to work.

Brand strategy verdict

The intentions were good, but the insight wasn't. I suspect this will prove to be a quickly forgotten glitch in the popularity of a great brand.

2/10

Click here to read Helen Edwards on the Andrex ad.

Which of the following TV commercials do you remember seeing recently?
Latest rank	Mar-01	Brand	Agency/TV buyer	Recall
1	(-)	Comparethemarket .com	VCCP/ZenithOptimedia	62
2	(-)	McDonald's	Leo Burnett/OMD UK	56
3=	(-)	DFS	Krow/MediaCom	45
3=	(-)	Churchill	WCRS/MediaCom	45
5	(-)	Aldi	McCann Manchester/ UM Manchester	43
5	(-)	National Accident Helpline	CST The Gate/ Carat Manchester	43
7	(-)	Flora Buttery	Adam & Eve DDB/ MindShare	42
8=	(-)	ScS	Martin Tait Redheads/ Martin Tait Redheads	34
8=	(-)	Cadbury Egg'n'Spoon	Fallon/PHD	34
10	(-)	BT	Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO/ Maxus	29
11	(-)	Direct Line	MC&C Saatchi/MediaCom	28
12	(10=)	Sky	WCRS/MediaCom	27
13	(-)	Renault Clio	Publicis/OMD UK	26
14=	(-)	Tesco	Wieden & Kennedy/ Initiative	25
14=	(5=)	Currys/PC World	M&C Saatchi/Walker Media	25
14=	(-)	Harveys	Enter/Walker Media	25
17	(13=)	Gillette Fusion	BBDO New York/MediaVest	22
18	(-)	Territorial Army	JWT London/M4C	22
19=	(-)	Andrex	JWT London/MindShare	20
19=	(-)	Ambi-Pur	Grey Dusseldorf/MediaCom	20

Adwatch research was conducted from 21-25 February 2013 by TNS as part of its twice-weekly OnLineBus omnibus among 1000 adults aged 16-64. For details of the survey, contact Bob.Salmons@tnsglobal.com (020 7160 5550). Ads were compiled by Ebiquity (020 7650 9700) and Mediaedge:cia UK (020 7803 2000).

This article was first published on marketingmagazine.co.uk