2020 was a year for the toilet. For American Standard, that’s normally an exciting prospect. They’re big toilet people. But this wasn’t the year they—or anyone—had in mind.

Brief: We had to come up with a way to connect with consumers so American Standard would be top-of-mind when people were ready for bathroom renovations. 90% of homeowners were planning on upgrading their homes post pandemic. 25% plan to upgrade their master bathroom and 18% plan to upgrade another bathroom. Citation: Houzz COVID-19 Survey, May 20, 2020.

Additionally, consumers were ready for the calendar to change and the anticipation was expressed in a variety of phrases, such as “hurry up 2021”, “is 2020 over”, “I’m over 2020” and so on which were mentioned in?over?282,000?total posts on social media in 2020.?

Objectives: 1) Achieving national brand awareness and 2) Breaking through the clutter of a boring category.

We gave 2020 the sendoff it deserved and quite literally flushed it down the drain.

The #Flush2020 campaign idea invited consumers all over to playfully revel in the most flushable moments and themes from 2020.??

A survey revealed more than 230 million Americans (95%) can identify at least one thing they wish they could flush down the toilet from 2020.

Leveraging the survey data, we created?three?unique?custom-designed toilet paper rolls printed with some of the worst parts of 2020, like murder hornets, COVID,?being stuck on mute,?and?more. Then we?gave?them?away in?a series of?online sweepstakes throughout December?while?engaging consumers and influencers alike to pick their flushable moments.?

What was clearly a conversation piece online would be replicated at home with the?toilet paper?– setting the stage for?Instagrammable?moments everywhere.

Insight: Stay-at-Home guidelines were driving interest in DIY and home improvement projects. Launching #Flush2020 in December would aid brand awareness going into the New Year when renovations were suspected to pick back up. A separate survey revealed the overwhelming majority – unsurprisingly – wish they could?flush?COVID-19 (87%), with the expression “new normal” (49%), and canceled vacations (41%) rounding out the top three spots.?This influenced the TP design and top 9 flushable moments.

Key Message: American Standard Flushes 2020. The brand planned to capitalize on the current cultural and social sentiment in an authentic and relevant way by building a campaign that connected its product and consumer conversation.

Target Audience: Reach and engage Gen X and Gen Z homeowners. Measure success based on earned and paid impressions, social engagement metrics, and consumer contact information via entry forms.

The?#Flush2020 sweepstakes?incentivized engagement with the creative execution driving interest and conversation. On December 3, we?revealed?the first roll?via social?media?driving?to a microsite where consumers entered?to win the roll highlighted. The subsequent two rolls were released in 4-day increments following.?

We implemented?paid?media?across Facebook and Twitter through interactive poll campaigns using creative assets corresponding with the sentiment of the campaign and encouraged users to vote for the thing they’d most like to “flush.” Creative consisted of 15+ videos, gifs, and static images.?

We used a combination of interest and look-alike targeting to engage with an audience matching our ideal prospect but may not have engaged with us before.? ?

We?sent rolls to hundreds of influencers + press?along with a Sharpie to add their own flushable moment– igniting even more conversation about American Standard.

Sweeps closed December 14th. TP was soon delivered.

American Standard’s net sentiment rose +81%?during the campaign – the highest in 2020.

American Standard?generated 667 total posts in?December 2020 and January 2021?around Flush 2020,?which?drove a 23% month-over-month increase in?organic?conversation volume from November to December.?

In December, 14% of all brand conversation surrounded the Flush 2020 campaign.?

With only 450 rolls to give away, 30,000+ people entered #Flush2020 for a chance to win. Our paid social media campaign resulted in an astounding 76,000 poll responses and garnered an engagement rate significantly higher than even the strongest platform benchmarks (e.g., 2-3% for niches/industries).

#Flush2020 achieved a 24% Engagement Rate on?Facebook?and a 17% Engagement Rate on Twitter. This is a $.03 Cost Per Engagement.??

American Standard earned attention from NBC’s TODAY show, USA Today, and several local markets resulting in 350+ million earned Impressions?and millions in estimated earned media value.