Toto challenged my team to explore different ways to introduce their innovative bidet to the hesitant US market by leveraging brand ethnography to uncover key insights, reframing it not as traditional luxury, but as a uniquely indulgent and transformative personal care experience.
Challenge:
Toto approached us with an intriguing assignment: introduce their cutting-edge bidet to the US market. The challenge? Most Americans don’t know what a real bidet is. Even fewer have experienced one. There’s a cultural hesitation—some outright fear—about something so outside the norm for US bathrooms. While Toto bidets are globally synonymous with luxury and innovation, the concept needed a new approach to resonate with American consumers.
The Solution
We turned to brand ethnography to get to the root of the issue—literally observing, listening, and understanding the emotional and cultural barriers Americans associate with bidets. What emerged was a critical insight: in the US, the selling point wasn’t luxury in the traditional sense (status, wealth). Instead, it was the luxurious experience of trying something truly unique—an everyday indulgence that elevates personal care.
This insight drove a campaign that reframed the Toto Bidet as a small but transformative act of self-care. By positioning the bidet as a simple way to feel pampered and modern, we helped Toto bridge the gap between cultural unfamiliarity and personal desire. The result was a message that invited Americans to be curious, confident, and open to experiencing something new—and unexpectedly delightful.
INSPIRATION
Each year, the US consumes billions of rolls of toilet paper, contributing to deforestation and environmental harm—a staggering reality we used to reposition the Toto Bidet as not only a luxurious personal care upgrade but also a responsible, eco-conscious choice for modern households.
