Kimberly-Clark is pensioning off the three women whose bustling
household has provided the backdrop for Kleenex’s TV advertising for the
past five years.
Their place is being taken by a trio of newcomers who, according to the
Kleenex agency, Foote Cone Belding, will be more in tune with the times.
They make their debut on national TV next Monday in a commercial to
launch Kleenex Ultra Balm, a facial tissue which, it is claimed, will
prevent the red nose that accompanies a streaming cold.
The 30-second film also marks the appearance of a new endline: ‘Kleenex.
A touch better.’
The commercial signals the end of the advertising soap opera featuring
the actresses, Lesley Dunlop, Kate Byers and Oona Kirsch, who have
starred in 13 films about a young married woman living alone, her
streetwise sister and her friend.
Some of the early episodes were directed by Mike Leigh, of Life is Sweet
and Secrets and Lies fame, and scripted by the sitcom writer, Carla
Lane.
FCB says the launch of the product is the ideal time to refresh the
Kleenex campaign, which will also run across Kimberly-Clark’s key
European markets.
‘These three girls are more hormonally charged than their predecessors,’
John Bacon, FCB’s joint creative director, said. ‘But the advertising
will take a broadly similar approach and, as it continues, the girls’
distinctive personalities will evolve.’
In the first of the ads, a new character called Nicky suffers from a
heavy cold while imagining she is on a skiing holiday with the man of
her dreams.
The change of cast coincides with other changes in the wake of Kimberly
Clark’s acquisition of Scott Paper last March. As a result of the
merger, Kimberly-Clark was forced to license its Kleenex toilet tissue
brands by the European Union, which ruled that the company could not
control both Kleenex and Scott’s Andrex.
Agencies are lining up to pitch for the Kleenex toilet tissue brands,
which are controlled by a Swedish-based company, SCA Hygiene.
