Thinking Outside The Smaller Box

It can be a challenge to think of examples for the topic of “Thinking in Opposites”, or “What if…?” once the obvious ones of Marmite, Muller and Yorkie have been used.

However, Kleenex’s decision to rebrand it’s “Kleenex For Men” to “Kleenex Mansize” was coupled with a decision to change the size of the box. What motivated this move?

According to this article from The Grocer, the move was driven by a desire to attract new consumers; apparently people who buy mansize tissues spend 30% more on tissues per year. Yet mansize tissues have been traditionally purchased unsurprisingly by men, who are influenced by the size of the tissue and the masculine themed packaging.

So the idea was to attract more consumers to mansize tissues, in the hope that category sales growth will follow. Latest figures from Kimberly-Clark indicate that it has worked (although of course sales could be up because of the swine flu factor!).

It appears that thinking in opposites - mansize tissues would not normally conjure up the image of a small box - can work!