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Never underestimate the power of an agency creative team to
sweep in on a successful Internet phenomenon and whore the idea out to a
client. So it goes with Kohler—the bold
toiletsmiths of tomorrow. Taking a cue
from the wildly successful Blendtec “Will it Blend?” series of catchy YouTube
videos, Kohler has plunged the depths of their creatives to come up with JosPlumbing.com.
Under the tag line, “Will it Flush?,” banners (featuring a
rubber ducky getting sucked down the bowl) whisk the intrepid (or mightily
bored) to an upscale domestic bathroom, where Jo awaits. Yes, you know Jo, that sexy plumber we are so
often greeted with when toilet trouble erupts.
Your job is to click on items you’d like to see Jo flush down the
commode. And by commode, I mean the
Kohler Class Five, a sophisticated black hole of a power crapper which has an
insatiable appetite for rubber duckies, wash cloths, and entire bags of dog
food.
You can just imagine the meeting where they hashed this out
with the client:
Kohler: We need a kick-ass Web 2.0 Flash website to virally
market our new Performance Toilets. Please
tell us how we can be the MySpace of commodes!
Creative Director: Have
you ever seen Will it Blend?
Kohler: Never heard
of it.
CD: Perfect. Forget I
mentioned it. Now: Imagine a completely immersive toilet
flushing experience—people can live out their wildest flushing fantasies by
commanding a hot plumber to flush inappropriate items down your toilets.
Kohler: Like a Clio?
CD: Mmm, maybe some
day. Picture it.
Kohler: But wait,
couldn’t this be marginally irresponsible?
Even if the Class Five can eat it, what about the pipes?
CD: We don’t see that
as an issue in the virtual toiletosphere.
By the way, we’ll include a cutting edge “share with a friend” feature
which will drive people to join in on this super viral flushing domination
fantasy site… it’ll say… uh, help me out here, Copywriter.
Copywriter: How about… “Flushing
is fun! You won't believe the things you can flush down a Kohler at this crazy
site. Check it out!”
CD: Wow, Copywriter,
where do you get this stuff? You’re worth every penny of the sixty grand we’re
paying you. Oh, did I mention you can fondle
Jo the plumber with your mouse and she says, “Stop tickling!”?
Kohler: Hmmm. This is
hot. Will there be flushing noises and laid-back lounge music playing in the
background?
CD: Absolutely.
Kohler: Sold!
Granted, it can be tough to show off the superior features
of a toilet. Seldom does a commercial
feature a linebacker emerging from a bathroom marveling over the toilet’s
capacity to “choke it down.” But isn’t
this the assumed price-of-entry for the toilet game? Did Kohler really have to pour a bag of dog
food into a toilet to make the point?
Just what the deuce were they thinking? Wisely (up until now) Kohler has decided to
focus on the aesthetics of their product design. Where Kohler always got it right was creating
the impression in the customer’s mind that you might just be buying the Porsche
of toilets; clean lines, chiaroscuro surface shots, and a reputation for
performance. Why play against this with
flushing porn?
If you think I’m missing it, please let fly. Is this a brilliant, tongue-in-cheek counter-brand
parody?
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I'm with you. This is off brand for Kohler.