SPOTLIGHT: Housewares

WD-40 Uses Consumer Research to
Become Bathroom Cleaning Experts

The package design of the X-14 brand's new deep clean family benefited from research that showed consumers perform two distinct types of bathroom cleaning.

The X-14® brand, known for providing trusted bathroom cleaning products, has now graduated to bathroom cleaning expert. The X-14 brand owners studied consumers' bathroom cleaning habits and designed a line of products specific to those needs. The WD-40 Company, headquartered in San Diego, owns the well-trusted X-14 brand. WD-40 is a global consumer products company dedicated to building brand equities that are first or second choice in their respective categories.

The brand's early product repositioning research, conducted by Hall & Partners in Petersburg, VA, showed consumers feel cleaning the bathroom is different than cleaning any other room in the house. The studies by Hall & Partners showed specifically that consumers say the bathroom has distinct cleaning challenges, resulting in the need for special bathroom cleaning products. In addition, consumers do two types of cleaning and buy products for both types—quick touch-ups and heavy deep cleaning.

Two types of cleaning

Hall & Partners found that consumers believe that quick, "touch-up" cleaning is more frequent, involves a simple spray or wipe, is done as often as daily, and provides a benefit of quick maintenance between deep cleanings to keep the bathroom looking and feeling clean. Quick cleaning involves products such as daily shower sprays and automatic toilet bowl cleaners.

Hall & Partners found that consumers considered "deep" or "heavy-duty" cleaning is less frequent, involves consumers getting "down on their hands and knees," provides the benefit of having an "ultra-clean" bathroom and includes usage of products like soap scum remover. The new X-14 packaging clearly delineates between these two types of cleaning by offering two types of product, and a tag on the label indicates which product is which.

"X-14 is making bathroom cleaning easier," says Tim Lesmeister, vice president of marketing for WD-40 Company. "The research we conducted proved that consumers need products to meet both their quick- and deep-cleaning needs. Our new line does that, and our communication will teach consumers how to handle all their bathroom cleaning needs. It will also demonstrate how our products make their bathroom cleaning easier."

A new level of cleaning

The brand's new positioning—X-14 is The Bathroom Expert—is the centerpiece around which its new product line enters the market. The brand and packaging were redesigned from top to bottom with the help of their advertising agency of record, O'Leary and Partners in Newport Beach, CA, and The DuPuis Group, an international branding and identity company. The goals were to provide a "family" look with similar bold colors, improve shelf impact, and communicate the brand's values clearly.

A critical aspect of the design, according to X-14 marketing director Heidi Noorany, was incorporating "The Bathroom X-pert" into the X-14 logo, which she believes is much more modern than their previous design. "People look at the packaging and they understand," says Noorany, explaining that consumer research played a role every step of the way.

After narrowing graphic or structural design possibilities down to three or four, they took the design candidates to the people to see what clicked. The category is still, for the most part, a sea of white that X-14 wanted to rebel against. Noorany feels the name, colors, and presentation convey high-tech products for serious cleaning. "We're not communicating soft, gentle things," says Noorany.