Who Gives A Crap
“Good for your bum. Great for the world.”
I never thought I would look forward to using toilet paper so much. And that it would be….fun?! Who Gives a Crap has managed to create a delightful consumer brand experience, converting me to become a loyal customer.
I originally entered the toilet paper subscription realm with Reel. I learned about it from my sister who champions more sustainable and eco-friendly plastic-free living. I appreciated the simplicty of a subscription model and the minimal wrapper design. When inflation started rearing it’s head, I looked into other options, and ended up trying Who Gives a Crap. Cost per unit swayed me. Also, in contrast to Reel, a variety of fun design patterns appealed to me as a designer. I didn’t know how much I would enjoy the patterns until I experienced them. I look forward to unwrapping a roll, every. single. time. It’s like unwrapping a present. And I save my favorite pattern for last.
What’s in A name?
Who Gives a Crap formed in 2012 after learning that more than 2 billion people didn't have access to a toilet. 50% of profits donated to clean water and sanitation non-profits. Capital was raised on Indiegogo.*
Let’s talk about their double entendre name. So clever. The name plays to–well–crapping, but also about their mission to help people in need and caring about the earth by using sustainable materials as much as possible. Compare this to the eco-friendly compostable kitchen paper brand If You Care, whose name implies some judgement and questioning of your ethics.
Clever, witty, and fun
Each patterned wrapper comes with different copy:
“Give yourself a pat on the bum”
“We believe in plying it forward”
“Please do more ones and twos”
Unwrapping reveals more copy, sometimes fun, sometimes weaving in the facts about their mission. One roll’s wrapper pointed to the website for a trivia quiz to do while on the loo, and another had copy about gifting the roll with a checklist of different reasons including “birthday”.
A Color-coded system
A color-coded system to remind customers that it’s time to reorder. Three “emergency rolls” are included in the box, packaged distinctly from the rest, in solid gold. Never. Run. Out. This system actually follows James Clear’s tenets of Atomic Habits:
Make it obvious
Make it attractive
Make it easy
Make it satisfying
Which Who Gives a Crap succeeds in, helping to retain and convert customers.
I actually saved some wrappers from my first order because I loved the patterns so much, but decided to stop being a hoarder dispose of them in recycling since I would be getting another box, as a newly convinced customer. To my surprise, the second delivery had different patterns, which also delighted me, but I wish I still had some of the old patterns. The copy was just a bit more fun.
Give them a try, and help build more toilets for people to live better!