Who Gives A Crap (WGAC) was founded to solve two main problems: Creating environmentally friendly products that meet the quality expectations of consumers, and making an impact on the 2.4 billion people worldwide who don't have access to a toilet, by contributing 50% of profits to create access to adequate water and sanitation facilities. In 2023, more than 10 years after it was founded, WGAC turned to PMG to grow its brand awareness globally to better achieve its audacious mission.
Leveraging WGAC’s ‘Uncrap The World’ brand platform, our team’s challenge was to use media to reach consumers in the UK and Australia, help them understand that even small decisions like choosing an eco-friendly toilet paper product can make a big impact, and motivate them to take action and contribute to a better world.
Audience research identified progressive early adopters as the ideal target audience, and insights helped us refine that group into the ‘Uncrappers’ — people who want easy wins that can help them do the right thing for the planet. Our engagement strategy thus was built on three pillars.
To get noticed, we selected key broadcast environments including Linear TV and BVOD, high impact OOH and DOOH formats, and local event activations (e.g., London Naked Bike Ride, Kite Festival) timed with key sustainability dates such as Ocean Day and World Refill Day to maximize awareness and SOV. We built meaning through partnerships with seven TikTok creators (including @AdrianBliss, @maddy_macrae_ and @_angelomarasigan), each developing content that ranged from hilarious skits to eye-opening facts to spotlight the power of small actions in making a massive global impact.
Our media strategy leveraged host-read branded segments with influential podcasters such as The Guilty Feminist, Katherine Ryan, and Off Menu, among others; and 4-6 weeks long activations across the full digital and print ecosystem of The Guardian, a hugely popular publisher with reach in the UK and Australia, to authentically express WGAC’s compelling brand values.
We also extended the campaign’s longevity in-market through TVC cutdowns running across YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram, with paid social amplification of creator content and data-led OOH placements in close proximity to select stores and retailers with WGAC toilet paper on their shelves, nudging consumers towards potential points of purchase.
The ‘Uncrap The World’ campaign playfully represented a ‘call to arms for bums’ around the world, and it was a rousing success. We supported the brand’s retail expansion in the UK and Australia by driving 9 and 11 point lifts in awareness, respectively, corresponding double digit lifts in ad recall, and 3% lifts in each country for consideration.
From a media performance standpoint, our linear TV placements exceeded ratings targets by as much as 74%, and our team secured more than £500k in added value. Meanwhile, on YouTube, consumers reported 3% lift in consideration for WGAC products. And between the social creator content and paid social amplification, WGAC saw 54.2M video views on TikTok alone, with over 609k engagements (and 12k new followers) across the United Kingdom and Australia.
While WGAC grew through word of mouth, our team was able to help the brand evolve through its first-ever global brand campaign, and inspire change in consumers’ attitudes and behaviours.
