Goodwipes · Goodwipes in-house with Quan Media Group · United States · October 2026
Wet Ones began October by telling New York that its wipes are for hands, and hands only. Goodwipes, which makes flushable wipes for the other end, saw a free set-up. Within a day it had a billboard beside Wet Ones' Times Square screens reading "We're actually just for butts", plus a truck that followed Wet Ones' posters around the city.
The Challenge
Goodwipes is a challenger whose whole proposition is the bathroom: flushable wipes for bottoms. Its stated aim was to remind New Yorkers exactly what its wipes are for, at the moment a far bigger rival was paying to talk about butts.
What They Did
Wet Ones' BBH USA campaign went up on Monday 5 October: photographs of hands posed to look like bottoms, under the line "Just for Hands. No ifs, ands or butts." On Tuesday, Goodwipes, working in-house with media buyer Quan Media Group, put its own Times Square board directly opposite: "We're actually just for butts." A mobile truck parked beside Wet Ones' placements around the city from 6 to 9 October. On Wednesday, Wet Ones updated its Times Square creative to respond: "Very cheeky @goodwipes", signing off with a promise that together they could clean up the city.
Why It Works
Wet Ones built its campaign on a survey in which half the respondents admitted using hand wipes on intimate areas. That is Goodwipes' entire business case, publicised at a rival's expense. Goodwipes only had to finish the sentence. Its line borrows Wet Ones' set-up and adds one true word, "actually", in the exact spot where the audience has just been primed to think about bottoms.
Creative Deviance: Unexpectedness
Challengers usually answer a big rival with a comparison. Goodwipes agrees with Wet Ones and claims the territory it has just disowned. The surprise serves a purpose: the joke is the positioning, and it works only because Wet Ones drew the line first. Goodwipes' run of cheeky outdoor work, from scented billboards to bathroom puns, makes the reply unmistakably theirs.
The Tactic
Parody Their Brand Codes → Hijack or Answer Another Advertisement
What to Steal
Read your rival's media plan as your brief. Wet Ones' campaign told Goodwipes where its audience would be, what they would be thinking about and when. Goodwipes needed a Times Square board, a truck and a quick sign-off. Keep a reply budget and a fast approval route, because the best set-ups are only live for a few days.
The Question That Could Get You There
Which rival ad could set up our punchline right beside it?
Or, more pointedly: which rival claim leaves our product as the obvious punchline?
