School’s out for summer, but not forever, thanks to a cheekily educational ad from Dude Wipes. The flushable wipe brand last month launched “The Evolution of Wiping,” a 30-second spot that heads to a museum that goes back to the past and then to the future of butt cleansing.

The first half of the ad highlights the history of wiping, with actors that look like caveman animatronics using tree bark next to glasses cases of corn husks and toilet paper. In the second half, the narrator introduces the Dude Wipes-enabled future of wiping, using a mission to Uranus to demonstrate how the brand clears instead of smears.

“The Evolution of Wiping,” which went live across digital platforms including YouTube, Meta and Amazon connected TV (CTV) on June 30 before hitting linear TV this month, is also an evolution of Dude Wipes’ TV advertising. Two spots that launched last year, “Drop Your Drawers” and “Learning To Wipe,” use ‘90s commercial tropes and a classroom setting, respectively, to deliver a message, but were perhaps not what the brand needed to connect with its growing audience.

“[The spots] were performing okay, but we wanted to get something more educational out there, and more on brand,” said CMO Ryan Meegan. “‘Drop Your Drawers’ got a little bit too cute, too early in introducing ourselves to a mass media audience, especially a linear audience.”

So while “Learning To Wipe” performed well with women, and “Drop Your Drawers” could work better down the line, Dude Wipes went back to the drawing board with agency Curiosity for what would become “The Evolution of Wiping.” The script for the new ad stressed simplicity and a linear narrative, correlating the primitive techniques of cavemen to standard-issue TP. 

“We think that's really relatable,” Meegan said. “People talk about doing stuff like a caveman, and it's been a running joke that if you're in the woods, what are you going to use, a leaf or a pine cone or something like that?”

Back(side) to the future

For the future of wiping scene, Dude Wipes offers a demo of its product, substituting two celestial bodies for the wet paint and balloon-wiping tutorial of last year’s spot. A pun about a mission to Uranus helped Dude Wipes stay on-brand and avoid linear TV censorship.

“Getting butt-wiping work network-approved can be a challenge. So we're always looking for creative ways to say what we need to say, but in a PG way,” said Matt Cragnolin, group creative director at Curiosity, over email. “So we decided to perform the demo on a planet, mirrored and pushed together so that it looked like a big butt.”

If Uranus was “too hot for TV,” Curiosity had an alternative at the ready with “the moon,” Cragnolin explained.

On the media side, airing the ads via Amazon continues an experiment combining CTV with retail media that Meegan spoke about previously with Marketing Dive. Dude Wipes is “super excited” about early results from the case study, which has resulted in relevant lift and conversion. Earlier this month, the brand added themed pause ads — “this bathroom break was brought to you by Dude Wipes,” as one tagline says. 

The new campaign and Amazon experiment build on the brand’s recent success. Dude Wipes has seen $182 million in retail sales since 2019, and recently passed Cottonelle in dollar share of omnichannel sales, Meegan said.

“Taking over Cottonelle, we feel like our lead on them is only going to increase. We're really spearheading this next wave of wiping,” the executive said. “Toilet paper will be in that case in a museum eventually. We're leading the charge on that.”