Citronelle Enlists Ken Jeong To Turn Brand Ambassadors Into ‘Assvertisers’

Cottonelle is partnering with actor, comedian and former physician Ken Jeong to introduce a personal care marketing approach that it calls “assvertising,” per a press release. Jeong features in an online video about the effort. Consumers can visit a microsite through July 26 and submit a video that describes their “down there situation in a clever but clean way.” The Kimberly-Clark brand will select four applicants as “assvertisers” who will receive $10,000 each and be expected to develop social content, among otherresponsibilities.The effort, which fuses raunchy humor with a celebrity brand ambassador and user-generated content, builds on the brand’s DownThereCare campaign, which launched earlier this year.Cottonelle is getting to the bottom of how consumers talk about their “down there” situations with a comical effort that seeks not ambassadors or influencers, but assvertisers. The Kimberly-Clark brand is positioning itself as one focused on real consumer needs, not just marketing around how soft and strong its product is.“Many consumers don’t understand that they can find solutions to their down there situation in the toilet paper aisle,” said Elizabeth Metz, North American vice president of Cottonelle. “Cottonelle has a full suite of products that speak to the various situations all of our down theres have, whether we are steamy, sensitive, hard to clean, or swampy, and we hope our first-ever Assvertisers can help us normalize the conversation around down there care and shine light on the solutions.”The effort builds on a previous DownThereCare campaign created with FCB Chicago that depicted the same four common problems — steamy, sensitive, hard to clean and swampy — with a similarly humorous tone that dispenses with the cuddly bears and babies that often appear in toilet paper ads. To find its assvertisers, Cottonelle has launched a microsite that will collect personal information and video messages — that are not inappropriate or vulgar, per contest details — from consumers. Winners will be notified by email in mid-August and will receive $10,000 and a pair of Cottonelle joggers that they are expected to wear in public and in social content that the brand will likely use on its own channels.