Royale is a Canadian brand of consumer household paper products such as facial tissue, bathroom tissue, paper towels, and paper napkins. The brand is owned by Canadian paper company Irving Tissue.
History
In 1929, New York-based National Cellulose Company dissolved a relationship with its Canadian distributor and opened its first Canadian office in downtown Toronto.[1] In 1936, Toronto businessman William S. Gibson and a team of investors bought out National Cellulose, and Dominion Cellulose was formed. Dominion Cellulose continued to sell its Facelle tissue in Canada until 1961, when the company was sold to Canadian International Paper Company and was renamed Facelle Company. In 1963, the Facelle Company launched its Royale brand with two products: 3-ply facial tissue, and 2-ply bathroom tissue.
In August 1991 the Royale brand was sold to Procter & Gamble where it remained until 2001 when Irving Tissue purchased P&G’s Weston Road plant in Toronto, Ontario, along with the rights to the Royale brand.[2]
Advertising
The Royale brand is represented by the Royale Kittens, two white Persian kittens meant to represent the softness of Royale products.[1] Royale’s longest running television ad campaign ran from 1973 to 1984, and featured the Royale Kittens playing on a white shag rug and unwinding rolls of bathroom tissue. Since then, the Kittens have appeared in television, print, and Internet marketing material for Royale. In 2010, an official Facebook community page was created in the name of the Royale Kittens.[2]
Other memorable campaigns include Royale’s "The Nose" spot featuring pro hockey player Eddie Shack.[3]
References
- Tissue products endure a turbulent time in North America – Perini Journal
- Ancient Forest friendly tissue products [bare URL PDF]
- 50 years of kitten’y softness | The Times
- New Irving generation broadens horizons – The Globe and Mail
- Tappi: Technical section. Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry. 1969.
- Moody's Transportation Manual. Mergent FIS. 1988.
- Paper Trade Journal. Vance Publishing Corporation. 1973.
- American Paper Industry. Paper Industry Management Assn. 1973.
- The Canada tax cases : annotated. R. De Boo. 1998. ISBN 978-0-459-57624-0.
- Canadian Pulp and Paper Industry. Maclean-Hunter. 1968.
- Margaret H. Cunningham (1999). Canadian Marketing Casebook. Pearson Education Canada. ISBN 978-0-13-973652-0.