Case Studies

SC Johnson: The Future of Cleaning

How might we create a future roadmap for the home cleaning business?

Future-proof Innovation | Proposition Development | Inspirational Insight

The Fresh Brush Starter Kit has over 19,000 ratings on Amazon and scores 4.7/5.0

The Challenge

The innovation team at SC Johnson wanted foresight into bathroom cleaning. Sense Worldwide took them to the extremes to find it.

The Outcomes

Working with outliers makes an insight easier to observe. The contrast is sharper and brighter at the extremes. This insight helped the remarkable team at SC Johnson to reframe the future of bathroom cleaning and create a tight design brief for the R&D team.

The Scrubbing Bubbles disposable toilet cleaner was born. It took a fringe behavior and accelerated it into the mainstream. Everyday consumers are saying, “A must in every bathroom!”, “Least gross method of toilet cleaning” and “Saved me from a nervous breakdown”.

The Result

Large sales figures and positive reviews have made the product a must-have for mainstream consumers. With over 19,000 ratings on Amazon, the product scores a hefty 4.7/5.0.

Our Approach

Seeking a fresh perspective we collaborated with homeowners living with OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). These collaborators were so interested in the minutiae of cleaning. They were willing to go into details most people would rather not think about.

How The Sense Network Shaped Helped

During the discovery phase, we observed an individual wrapping toilet paper around the head of a toilet brush. They used it to clean; then shook the paper off. For the OCD homeowner wrapped the bristles of the brush in toilet paper to minimize contamination when it came into contact with the bowl. The thought of a contaminated brush, sitting next to the toilet all day and everyday, was unbearable for them. This observation is a textbook example of a latent or unarticulated need.