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ROYALE AT 50
The original catvertiser keeps building a strong brand
BY GRANT SURRIDGE
Above, clockwise
from left: the iconic
kittens; current
creative for the 50th
anniversary; a woman
wears a tisue dress in
1963; an illustrated
ad from 1976; hockey
player Eddie Shack
in an ad from the late
’70s/early ’80s.
I
f you’d have told
early 1970s-era
marketing executives
at Royale Canada that in the
future millions of people would
spend countless hours looking at
kittens on personal computers
and “cellphones” they would have
thought you very odd indeed.
Probably even odder if you brought
out the phrase “catvertising.”
But as the Irving Consumer
Products-owned brand turns 50,
it can count with good fortune the
beneits that the soaring popularity
of felines has had on its brand value
and awareness.
“The kittens of course have
become synonymous with the
brand,” says Gary MacIntosh,
director of marketing at Moncton,
N.B.-based Royale Canada.
“They’re a tremendous icon for us
that embodies the whole concept
of softness.”
The strength of that brand
proposition helps Royale maintain
a leadership position in the
Canadian market amid ierce
competition from private brand
rivals that sell at a lower price. In
the bathroom tissue category it
sits at number two behind Kruger
Products’ Cashmere, and number
three in facial tissue behind
Kruger’s Scotties and market
leader Kimberly-Clark’s Kleenex.
But the company sits at the top
when its paper categories – facial
and bathroom tissue, napkins and
paper towels – are combined.
To celebrate half a century
of success, Royale is rolling out
several initiatives to celebrate the
milestone with its customers, such
as a contest called “The Golden
Kittens Search,” with a grand prize
of $50,000 in cash. Those who ind
specially marked tickets inside
Royale products can enter a draw,
which culminates with winners
being lown to Toronto to take part
in a trivia competition (held in
conjunction with ET Canada) with
questions based on events from the
past 50 years.
Royale hired the Toronto-based
PR company Paradigm to help raise
awareness of the brand’s landmark
and is working with Pigeon out of
Toronto to design special packaging
that commemorates the anniversary.
In conjunction with its Monctonbased
AOR Hawk Marketing
Services, Royale is also producing
a book, Royale: Celebrating 50
Years of Kitten-y Softness, that
will be distributed as gifts or
prizes to customers, suppliers
and employees over the coming
year. The brand biography traces
Royale’s history all the way
back to the establishment of a
manufacturing facility near Jane
Street and Weston Road in Toronto
March 2013
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