Harpic is launching a ‘self-sticking’ toilet block that promises a new sustainability-driven brand experience with a focus on hygienic, lasting freshness

Harpic Hygienic & Fresh Sticker is a convenient toilet block that sits discreetly inside-the-bowl (ITB), giving lasting freshness without the need for a plastic cage. This will be a category game-changer for the world’s leading toilet brand. The new Harpic Hygienic & Fresh Sticker offers the same way of keeping toilets constantly fresh as other ITB devices, but with the bonus of no plastic applicator (99% less plastic), bringing a new brand experience to the category.

An eco-user-friendly solution

Driven by the ambition to make Harpic innovations more sustainable, the Hygienic & Fresh Sticker can be easily applied to the inside of a toilet bowl in just three seconds without the use of any plastic applicators. This innovation also addresses consumers’ aversion to handling a ‘germy’ cage or disposing of ITB plastic Each discreet block dissolves slowly with every flush, while providing up to two weeks of fresh fragrance.

Ally Cane, Brand Experience Lead for Harpic at parent-brand Reckitt, says: “We want to bring a whole new experience to the category. Our ambition is to reinvent ITBs with a heightened benefit, coming up with more hygienic, convenient, and sustainable solutions.”
Reinventing the brand experience

A core element of the design is customer convenience. With its easy self-sticking application, the device itself dissolves with use, so there’s no need for removal. Its waterless, lightweight compact design makes it simple to store and easier to transport. The colourful stickers come in a hexagon shape, designed for discreetness but easy to grip. As well as dispensing with the need for plastic cages or additional applicators, the soap stickers are coated in a biodegradable polyvinyl alcohol wrap (PVOH).

It was crucial to use design as a tool to educate the user around the brand experience, says Cane. Graphic icons are used in the eComm assets animation and at POS to explain the new application gesture ‘flush, push & go’ and ease of use. They will be extended across all touchpoints, from ecommerce to point of sale, to encourage correct use and adoption.

The design of the pack highlights the product’s key benefit claims and the sticker’s fragrances (initially available in marine, citrus and pine), with visual cues emphasising its promise of freshness and convenience as well as the sticker shape.

Cane adds: “This type of launch needs to be rooted in consistency of messages and visuals. There needs to be a red thread running through such new innovations that takes account of 360-degree touchpoints but also connects with the DNA of the master brand. It has to feel like it fits within the brand family and represents what Harpic stands for; the clean that makes a difference!”

Increased accessibility

The Harper Hygienic & Fresh Sticker is initially being rolled out in Europe, but its launch has the potential to make a hygienic solution for keeping toilets fresher for longer globally accessible. In countries that rely on squat toilets, for example, the stickers could provide a convenient solution for hygienic long-lasting freshness.
The new product range will be launching in both the UK & France, with other markets to follow.