REBRAND
Niagara Conservation
From commodity product to powerhouse challenger brand.
CHALLENGE
Niagara Conservation has been at the forefront of water conservation for 40 years, engineering toilets and shower heads that work better and waste nothing. However, despite the ingenuity of their products, the company was largely unknown and often found themselves competing on price.
So we set out to elevate Niagara from a commodity to a powerhouse challenger brand. And, as a challenger brand, we needed a compelling way to break through to buyers and to understand how best to tell the story of its innovative products and mission.
INSIGHT
Every company in the industry talked about water conservation as one of a list of product features. But no one owned it.
As the brand behind the world’s most efficient toilet, Niagara was flush with opportunity to do so. We knew water conservation wasn’t top of mind for everyone. But neither was responsible food sourcing before Whole Foods and farm-to-table restaurants.
Niagara could be a pivotal voice in a growing movement, while highlighting the most distinguishing feature of its products.
DISCOVERY
Our research also revealed a strong opportunity to use Niagara’s website as a communication channel. It showed good potential for direct sales and e-commerce. To succeed, we needed to change the SEO strategy. Buyers weren’t using internet search to discover brands, but to evaluate them, using qualifying keywords such as “best of,” “most” and “highest efficiency.”
Attitudes around water conservation were also telling – and nuanced – with important implications for messaging content. Buyers had foundational expectations relating to not using too much water and considered actively using less water a secondary value-add.
Prospective customers were driven more by the idea of not wasting water, versus actively saving water. These insights helped us pivot our positioning – including the water conservation message as part of our mission – and focus on new standards for high-efficiency toilets.
PLAN
We began by establishing a cleaner brand architecture and clearer understanding of the customer. We used those efforts to create a more compelling way to show and talk about water conservation.
A new visual identity celebrates the beauty of water and marries modernity with hints of humanity. Niagara welcomes customers to the water revolution by reminding them that they’re “too smart to waste.”
DIGITAL CAMPAIGN 1
The Toilet for Smart Asses
CHALLENGE
Niagara toilets use 77% less water than conventional toilets – an important advantage considering the world’s diminishing supplies of fresh water. But gaining awareness for the disruptor brand presented a challenge and well-known competitors were flush with marketing dollars. We had to be savvier and more strategic to make a splash in the marketplace.
INSIGHT
Market research revealed prospects most likely to consider Niagara for their next purchase: millennial homeowners and millennial property managers. Both audiences thought they knew it all when it came to the facts of flushing – so we’d need compelling evidence to show them how Niagara was a smarter choice.
IDEA
We knew that a humorous, disruptive creative approach would differentiate Niagara from the competition – while boosting awareness, interest and purchase consideration. Our campaign, “Toilet for Smart Asses,” used a storytelling technique, pivoting on a hapless character (Phil, the dumb ass) to entertain while showcasing the advantages of Niagara toilets.
SOLUTION
Our campaign drove leads and purchases with digital and display ads, and through a series of three entertaining videos on targeted social media. Display ads were featured on HGTV and Real Simple.
For property managers, we created an informative e-book, and drove purchases on HomeDepot.com from the campaign landing page. Throughout the campaign, ongoing media outreach helped generate continuous coverage in B2B and consumer outlets.
AWARDS
North America Gold SABRE Award
North America Innovation & Insights SABRE (In2SABRE) Award
The Advertising Federation of Minnesota (Ad Fed) Best of B2B Award
Global Telly Awards: 1 Gold, 3 Silver, 1 Bronze
DIGITAL CAMPAIGN 2
#WTF
California’s drought was the worst on record and our average toilet can waste up to 20,000 gallons of water a year. In our research, every time we unearthed a new fact, it was a jaw dropping “WTF” superlative. This behavioral insight born of product and situational truths, gave rise to #WhatTheFlush.
While water conservation was on the lips of many, most people had a significantly high level of discomfort and all-round aversion when talking about toilets. #WhatTheFlush took advantage of this natural tension developing the PottyTalk cornerstone content piece supported by the print, OOH, social and media relations elements. The supporting fact driven campaign messages touted the water-conserving advantages of the Stealth® Toilet, establishing it as a must have water-saving addition to any household.
EXECUTION
Over a period of 6 months, we leveraged brand ambassadors, partnering with Jenni Pulos, known for Bravo’s hit series “Flipping Out”, and using her as the campaign’s key spokesperson.
Additionally, the campaign partnered with influencers in the home design space for a social media campaign that involved replacing their current toilets with the Stealth® Toilet and featuring reviews on their blogs, which placed Niagara into the dialogue for bathroom remodels.
We then drove purchase intent by creating disruptive digital content in the form of “Potty Talk”, a humorous online video featuring Jenni Pulos, developing a campaign microsite to drive purchase of the Stealth® Toilet on HomeDepot.com with a clear call to action of “buy now”, and ran disruptive out-of-home advertisements.
Additionally, we secured earned media coverage around the partnership with Jenni Pulos and established a humorous social media tone of voice and published ongoing social posts to support the campaign.
OUTCOME
The campaign exceeded objectives, including sales goals. Immediately following the #WhatTheFlush campaign launch, sales increased by 67%.
Total volume sales of the Stealth® Toilet (between 4/1/16 to 10/1/16) will help save up to 766,340,000 gallons of water annually.
The campaign drove 48,738 visits to WhatTheFlush.com from April - October 2016, with an astounding 6:35 average time spent on the site and 2,141 clicks to “buy now.” Additionally, it sold over 720 toilets at Home Depot stores during campaign-integrated store events.
The campaign engaged with over 16 million consumers online, with the “Potty Talk” video viewed 212,494 times across Facebook and YouTube, 12 million Facebook impressions garnered between April and September 2016, and 3,996,348 impressions with 11,820 positive fan engagements earned from the influencer campaign.
Additionally, the campaign earned high praise from HubSpot’s blog in the article “10 Companies with Unexpectedly Good Twitter Content.”
AWARDS
North America Innovation & Insights SABRE Award
North America Gold SABRE Award
National PRSA Silver Anvil Award
2 PRWeek U.S. Honorable Mention Awards
2 Global Bronze Telly Awards
New York PRSA Best of the Best Award
Minnesota PRSA Best In Show Award
TRADE SHOW
With a refreshed mission and vision, we overhauled our trade show booth and created an immersive water conservation experience.
This promotional video was made to build excitement around its premier at the biggest kitchen and bath industry show of the year, KBIS.
RESULTS
Prior to the brand launch, Niagara generated 930 qualified sales leads over the course of a full year. Following the launch, the company received 612 in just four weeks. At KBIS, we doubled our referrals over previous years.
