Kimberly-Clark On a Roll

D A L L A S, Jan. 17, 2001 -- Seeking to wipe out potty discomfort,Kimberly-Clark Corp.is plunging into the market with a newproduct, moistened toilet paper on a roll.

The maker of Kleenex, Huggies and Kotex believes its latestcreation could be the biggest advancement in toilet paper in acentury — since someone thought to sell tissue on a roll.

The Irving-based company said Tuesday that it plans to spend $40million marketing Fresh Rollwipes under the Cottonelle brand name,one of its biggest product introductions ever. Company officialssay annual sales could hit $150 million within a year and $500million in six years.

The product will be introduced in early summer in the Northeastand Southeast, the company said.

For several years, Kimberly-Clark has sold flushable moistenedtoilet paper that comes in a tub — similar to baby wipes, exceptthat the fibers break apart in water, like ordinary tissue. Infact, the rapid growth of the wet-paper market persuaded companyofficials to see if they could refine the product.

The company surveyed 2,000 consumers and found that 63 percentof them occasionally used something wet — often a baby wipe orregular toilet paper sprinkled with water — after going to thetoilet. About a quarter did it daily.

To make moistened toilet paper a big seller, company officialsfigured they had to put it on a roll, in tiny perforated squareslike conventional toilet paper.

Top Secret Testing Done

Beginning with prototypes in 1997, company engineers developed aplastic dispenser that attaches to the toilet-roll holder in mostbathrooms. The moistened toilet paper developed at the company'sNeenah, Wis., plant can be unrolled from the top of the device,leaving room below for a roll of regular toilet paper.

Now the company has to persuade people to buy it — at $8.99 fora dispenser and four rolls, $3.99 for a 4-pack refill.

"Using a moist product cleans and freshens better than drytoilet paper alone," said Peggy Nabbefeldt, a Kimberly-Clarkmarketing director. "They have to realize this should be a normalpart of a universal task."

But the advertising must also be, well, subtle. "There's only so much people want to hear about with a productlike this," Nabbefeldt added.

After top-secret tests in consumers' homes, company officialsbelieve they've got a hit on their hands. Some of the testersdidn't want to give up the dispensers, said Linda Bartelt,president of the company's wet wipes sector. Bartelt said she'sbeen using the product herself for a year and a half and can'timagine life without it.

Lilly Penhall, an 18-year-old college student from Plano, saidher parents "are very particular about their toilet paper," andmight find the new paper appealing.

"As for me," Penahall said, "I don't care as long as it'spaper, it's cheap and it works."