Cottonelle

My Role

Moderator, Analyst, Strategist

The Business Challenge

Cottonelle partnered with FCB to create a category-defining new platform: ‘Come Clean.’ As a real-world campaign at Olson Zaltman, the challenge was to ensure this bold creative direction would resonate with consumers’ deepest psychological needs.

The Problem

Using the ZMET research method, we explored the unconscious mental frames around ‘clean.’ We discovered that ‘dirty’ is an emotional state of feeling stuck, heavy, and unresolved—like problems on a repeat loop.

The Insight

The human brain seeks cognitive closure. We feel “dirty” when things go unresolved; we feel “clean” when we experience resolution.

The Strategy

We identified that for the campaign to work, the creative couldn’t just show physical cleanliness, it had to provide emotional resolution.

Strategic Optimizations