Who: Kruger Products with Broken Heart Love Affair for strategy and creative (lg2 for French adaptation) and Wavemaker for media. With Scouts Honour for production and Darling Colour & VFX for post-production.

What: “Unleash the Scotties,” a new ad campaign for Kruger’s tissue brand, starring a lot of cute dogs.

When & Where: Creative launches today (March 29) with two six-second and two 15-second ads running across TV and online video, as well as on Instagram and Facebook.

Why: Kruger moved all of its creative work to Broken Heart Love Affair to pursue a communications strategy focusing on the human stories behind the use of its household paper products: tissues, toilet paper and paper towel. In this case, the stories are about sad moments when someone might need a tissue, but with a cute “ohmygod puppies!” twist.

Scottie the dog was introduced as a mascot for Scotties in 2019. The company said at the time it was a metaphor for the product, which was “always by your side, and as soft as it strong.” According to Kruger, Scottie the dog really resonated with customers in 2020, with the company saying it helped contribute to a 2.8% increase in household penetration to 35.5%.

So, if one Scottie was good, why not try a lot more?

How: One of the ads shows a father breaking down as his son is about to walk down the aisle, and in the other a young girl is heartbroken when her balloon pops at a party. In both cases the characters lift a Scottie dog—rather than a Scottie tissue—to their face to dab away the tears.

The camera then zooms out to reveal a room full of cute Scotties that are there if needed. The only other message is “Unleash the Scotties” as a super—no narrator and no dialogue.

A room full of dogs? Not quite. Finding dogs was not easy, with so many adopted during the pandemic. They ended up with 11 West Highland White Terriers which were shot separately and placed in post-production by Paul Binney at Darling.

“We were inspired by the broader context of how the Covid era has driven unprecedented demand for dogs,” said Broken Heart Love Affair partner and CCO Carlos Moreno in a release about the campaign. “The love and emotional connection to dogs has never been more elevated. We wanted to bring that to life through an unconventional look at the famous Scotties mascot.”

And we quote: “Regardless of the circumstances, Scotties tissues are there for every emotional moment, much like a loyal, trusted dog. ‘Unleash the Scotties’ taps into that emotional reaction in all of us, and shows viewers that Scotties is always by their side, providing both softness and strength.” —Susan Irving, chief marketing officer, ‎Kruger Products