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Above, clockwise
from top left: creative
from the 1970s;
Olympic gold medallist
Jennifer Heil with a
Royale kitten in 2010;
the look of Royale
tissue boxes in 1963;
an ad from 2003.
in the late 1930s by a company
called Dominion Cellulose.
Royale has gone through
numerous owners in its history. In
1961, Canadian International Paper
(CIP) purchased Dominion Cellulose,
and two years later, CIP introduced
Royale to the Canadian market.
Royale launched both facial
and bathroom tissue in 1963,
and introduced paper towels and
napkins before the decade was
through.
Susan Jones, VP strategy and
COO at Hawk, has worked with
Royale since 2002, and oversaw
production of the 50th anniversary
biography, helping comb through
decades of archived marketing
materials. She says that much of
its early advertising focused on
product “news,” such as reminding
people that Royale was the irst
brand to introduce the softer, more
durable two-ply bathroom tissue
to the Canadian market in the
latter half of the decade. “It was an
innovation, a major repositioning
of the category,” says Jones.
The irst cat didn’t appear in
Royale advertising until 1971, and
in 1973 the brand changed the cat
to kittens. The irst commercial
featuring those kittens, created
by the former F.H. Hayhurst
Advertising in Toronto, can be
found on YouTube by searching
“Royale kittens.” It shows luffy
kittens playfully batting around a
roll of toilet paper on heavy shag
carpet – everything is white and
looks very soft – while a sultry
female voice coos “the soft touch,
Royale,” over lounge music in
the background. According to
MacIntosh, it’s the longest-running
television ad in Canadian history,
running from 1973 to 1984.
“This commercial is very much
responsible for the strong brand
equity we enjoy with Royale today,”
he says. The 1970s also marked the
introduction of a line of napkins to
the Canadian market. Also notable
from the latter half of the disco
decade was Royale facial tissues’
“Noses” campaign, featuring the
“Noses know” print advertisements
and television commercials starring
NHL hockey player Eddie Shack and
his outsized honker.
As Royale moved into the 1980s,
much of its advertising began to
focus on how its packaging was
getting bigger. As people moved
into larger homes with more than
one washroom, toilet paper adverts
trumpeted the value in moving
from four-packs to eight, to sixteen
and beyond.
In 1991, CIP sold the brand to
marketing behemoth P&G.
“[P&G] was all about brandselling,”
says Jones. The CPG giant
introduced several additional paper
lines into the Canadian market
including Charmin bathroom tissue,
Bounty paper towels and Puffs
facial tissues.
This period saw rapid change
in a category already known for
being iercely competitive. In
addition to the new P&G products
hitting market, Kimberly-Clark
reintroduced Cottonelle bathroom
tissue and Scott paper towels,
while Quebec-based Cascades
introduced recyclable paper
products. “What Canadian
consumers had pre-2000 and what
they have today with regard to
household paper products couldn’t
be more different,” says Jones.
P&G owned the brand for a
decade, until Irving Consumer
Products bought it in 2001 and
reintroduced it to the Canadian
market after a two-year hiatus
related to the purchase agreement.
In 2003, the brand relaunched
with a complete line: bathroom
and facial tissue, as well as paper
towels and napkins. There was
new packaging (with the Royale
kittens displayed prominently)
and a new logo. New television
creative rounded out a campaign
that included a “ton” of shopper
promotions like coupon incentives.
In the 2000s, Royale also debuted
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