According to the company website "The new Bounty DuraTowel is a cloth-like, durable paper towel that leaves surfaces three times cleaner than a used dishcloth. This breakthrough paper towel provides peace of mind by combating the dishcloth’s dirty little secret: after just one day’s use, a dishcloth can harbor and redeposit millions of germs on the surfaces families come into contact with throughout the day".
The positioning as a cleaner version of a dishcloth is particularly interesting to me, as I would have expected the positioning versus the dishcloth to be around convenience (e.g., never ever wash a dishcloth again). While removing germs always tests well with consumers, the positioning seems a little foreign to my personal perception of Bounty's brand equity. My sense is this "cleaner" positioning will not be highly effective and will be evolved over time.
I'd also be very interested in reviewing Bounty's research on what are the most frequent jobs consumers use dishcloths for; drying dinner dishes after they have been washed seems like it would pop to the top here, and I question if the germ message would resonate with these consumers given their assumption is likely that the dishcloth is clean as it would never be exposed to germs since the dishes are freshly cleaned.
Additionally, I am somewhat surprised that Bounty chose to launch the DuraTowel as a white colored towel if they are really positioning as a dishcloth vs. paper towel, because the white does not come off as distinctly different from regular Bounty towels or competitors. A unique color would seem to help support the differentiated positioning in consumers' minds, whereas the white would make more sense if it was positioned as the strongest paper towel.
Perhaps Bounty chose not to color the paper towel based on insights from past attempts. The Bounty Super Duty Paper Shop Towel was blue and positioned as Toolbox tough.
"Bounty Super Duty has heavy duty texture for multi-purpose durability! Grease and oil; Painting projects; Barbeque grills; Patio furniture; Car detailing; Outdoor equipment".
