Stank Face is an internet phenomenon focused around the contorted faces people make when they smell something awful. It was an ideal insight to build upon, offering a natural connection to Tidy’s focus on odor control.

The meme’s roots were naturally suited to a social media execution. Tidy Cats tapped a mix of YouTube stars and other internet influencers to create a series of videos which resurfaced the Stank Face conversation and associated it with the brand.

Tidy encouraged the influencers to center their content on the Stank Face idea, while bringing their own personality to what they created. The result was an eclectic mix of content including an original music video, an exploration of what defines a “crazy cat lady”, even an impromptu street rap. All highlighted Tidy in a way that was authentic to each influencer’s style, and entertaining for viewers.

At the center of the full Stank Face campaign was a series of videos, including this one, entitled “The Plumber”. In these videos, Tidy Cats highlighted the moment of truth for its core cat owner audience: The moment when a guest enters her home. The approach stoked her fear of nose blindness through epic dramatization of that moment.

In this featured video, viewers see an unsuspecting plumber. All is well until he steps through the door, and things take a theatric turn for the worse. He catches a whiff and cue…STANK FACE! The story goes on to uncover the culprit: Lousy litter.

The tone of the film creates drama in an unexpected way for a low-consideration product like cat litter. An original, operatic score pushes the “tragic” moment of entry to the embarrassing (but oh-so-humorous) consequence—Stank Face. In the end, the audience sees the lousy litter alternative: A confident,

? During the campaign, Tidy Cats maintained market share leadership and outpaced category growth.

? 6-point lift in Brand Equity for odor control. This measure is the key purchase driver for consumers and most critical measure for Tidy Cats.

? Google Brand Lift “Best in Class” for Ad Recall (29% Lift) and Consideration (16% Lift).

? 12+ million video views, during campaign run. 10.3 M were organic views, validating the strategic approach and driving efficiency. Post-campaign, these videos have racked up even more.

? Met and exceeded brand and CPG benchmarks for viewthrough rate on all long-form videos.

? Landing page engagement rate 34% higher than campaign goal. More importantly, engagement was 3x higher for visits coming from influencer videos than those coming from ads.

? Additionally, Tidy demonstrated significant growth in 12 imagery categories (of 20). No other major cat litter competitors improved on more than 4 categories.