Accolades like the Michelin Guide have existed for years to recognize and celebrate the quality of a restaurant’s food, but Kruger’s Cashmere brand is asserting itself as the first to bring that same rigor to assessing restaurant bathrooms.

The brand, along with its agency partner Lifelong Crush, has unveiled the Cashmere UltraLuxe Bathroom Guide, which celebrates some of the best restaurant washrooms in Toronto. The guide hands out one to three Fleurs, inspired by the pattern embossed on Cashmere tissues, based on whether these restrooms are worth a look, photo opp or a visit before you even sit down to dine.

The goal of putting out such a guide is to connect the luxurious bathroom experience with a bathroom tissue, the Cashmere UltraLuxe, which is sold as a luxe product.

“We think this is the best demo experience ever,” says Lifelong Crush chief creative officer Christina Yu. “All these bathrooms that have [been recognized], they are using the UltraLuxe bathroom tissue. So in my opinion, you’re correlating luxury with luxury.”

After that connection of luxurious bathrooms to Cashmere UltraLuxe is made, the Lifelong Crush team hopes the brand will see a halo effect as people associate that positive feeling to Cashmere’s other products.

The inaugural three inductees to the guide in Toronto are DaNico, which received three fleurs, as well as Piano Piano and And/Ore, which both received two.

The idea for the guide came after Kruger Products CMO Susan Irving noted that the company wanted to prioritize the Cashmere brand a little more. Yu and fellow Lifelong Crush chief creative officer Derek Blais then presented the bathroom guide idea unbriefed, roughly a month ago. The company loved the idea so much that it introduced the guide quickly.

Inspired by social media discussions they’d seen revolving around the quality of restaurant bathrooms, the guide was designed based on the idea that people often judge a business based on the quality of its commode. Making this connection, Irving says, offered an effective way to sell the Cashmere brand and its most luxurious product.

“We’ve stopped saying ‘here’s the functional benefits, buy our product.’” Irving says. “We’re really trying to understand consumer-relevant insights and what’s on trend, so that we are showing up in the right places.”

Irving adds that the guide isn’t a short-term play, and that Cashmere has a phased approach planned. From here, the company wants to give people the chance to discuss online which restaurants they think deserve the same distinction as the inaugural three inductees, and encourage restaurateurs to nominate their own businesses. Irving hopes the guide will then expand to other Canadian cities.

The campaign hasn’t required a massive spend from Kruger, Irving says, as it’s initially targeting only Toronto. But as it rolls out, she adds that the spend will be similar to the brand’s other equity campaigns.

Lifelong Crush developed the campaign’s strategy and creative, as well as launch assets including an online video and website design. North Strategic handled PR, Wavemaker oversaw digital media and VML developed the website.