brand campaign
BUSINESS PROBLEM Pampers is the market-leading premium diaper brand, with 44% of the $4 billion North American disposable diaper market. Despite booming international business, P&G’s Pampers brand is experiencing a steady decline in domestic sales. Due to the economic recession, Americans are trading down to subpremium brands, like P&G’s Luvs, Kimberly-Clark’s Huggies and private label brands like Target’s Up and Ups.
16%
5% 44%
Pampers Huggies Private Label Luvs
35%
CAMPAIGN OBJECTIVES Improve brand relevance and brand momentum. Pampers has made a name for itself by building a relationship with new mothers, the same relationship that all diaper companies make. But with the entire category’s messaging all being the same, we must find a way to stand out in the minds of new parents.
Defend market share and sales in this increasingly competitive category.
OPPORTUNITY We looked at the relationship between Pampers and the brand’s core consumer, moms. Despite what some moms might think, dads are playing a greater role at home, not only helping more with grocery shopping and playing with the kids, but also becoming more influential in terms of which brands make it into the shopping cart, according to a generational study funded by BabyCenter. And according to Mintel, the number of stayat-home dads has risen dramatically over the past 3 years, and it’s only going to continue to grow. Despite dad’s indispensable help at home, no diaper brand has spoken directly to new fathers. The economy has created a unique opportunity for P&G to be the first to start the conversation with dads.
TARGET There are 36 million dads whose partner is either expecting, or has a child 2 years or younger. After countless surveys and interviews with new parents, we uncovered four segments of dads. We chose to focus on the Doing their Darndest Dads and In Denial Dads (a combined target of 21.6 million) who want to be better fathers but just need a little nudge. The Doing Their Darndest Dads are looking for a little acknowledgement that they do help out around the house. And the In Denial Dads are seeking social acceptance reinforcement that it’s okay to be an involved father.
1 3
Do It All Dads
2 4
Help mom out whenever they can, whether cooking or changing diapers
In Denial Dads
Have all the best intentions of being more involved, but it doesn’t always work
Refuse to openly talk about parenting, and who do their share but don’t really like it
Defiant Dads Refuse to help with certain chores, prefer genderdefined responsibilities
In Denial
TROJAN HORSE SECRET PLAN
“When I’m home I’ll do whatever I need to do.”
Doing their Darndest
Doing Their Darndest Dads
“She lets me know when I’m not pulling my weight.”
Our campaign is unique because it uses what we call a “trojan horse” technique. From the outset, it appears as if we’re targeting dads. And we are. But we also know that by doing so we will win over the millions of moms as well. After all, 86% of moms say they favor brands that encourage dad’s involvement (Silver Stork Research). While we win over influence with dad, we will also be reinforcing the influence of Pampers in the minds of their loyal core consumers: moms.
STRATEGY Pampers is mom’s partner in getting dad more involved with diaper duty. “Whoever has time off takes the lead. It all evens out in the end.”
“We often tag-team things, like getting him ready for bed, which makes it more fun - more of a family event.”
Pampers EXECUTION In order to help moms get dads more involved with diaper duty, we developed an interactive print campaign to tackle both needs of these new fathers, acknowledgement and social acceptance.Our campaign harnesses two major truths about men: that they often expect some sort of recognition for their favors, and that they will pretty much compete over just about anything. While half of this print will focus on winning over moms, the other half will be for dads, and placed in men’s magazines, where no diaper ad has boldly gone before.
Our second ad is a postcard-sized insert, designed like a scoreboard. The back is magnetic, and can easily stick on the refrigerator, while the front is glossy for dry erase markers. Finally, a way for parents to find out who’s really changing more diapers.
FREQUENT FAVOR REWARDS CARD Our first ad comes in the form of a frequent favor rewards card, and acts as an incentive to change more diapers. Dad can rip out the card and present it to mom every time he changes a dirty diaper. When the card is full, dad receives his agreed upon reward, such as the right to choose their next movie or control over the TV remote for a week.
The competition between moms and dads can be taken to the national level with the diaper duty showdown Facebook application. Using moisture-sensitive diaper technology, every dirty diaper will reveal a unique code to be entered online. This 30-day competition will host a live score to show exactly who is changing more diapers.
DIAPER LOTTERY SCRATCHERS
THE WHEEL OF DIAPER DESTINY The first ad for moms comes as a pair of lottery scratchers, which prompt each parent to scratch 3 of their numbers and add up their score. The parent with the lowest score has to change the next diaper. But there’s one catch. Mom’s scratcher will always have slightly higher values, continuing to reinforce our strategy, that Pampers is mom’s partner in getting dad more involved in diaper duty.
Our second print ad for moms tackles one of the most historically difficult times to get dad to change diapers: the middle of the night. That’s when the wheel of diaper destiny comes in. Moms will tear it out and keep it bedside, so when the baby cries in the middle of the night, instead of arguing about whose turn it is, parents can simply spin the wheel and accept their fate.
HUMAN BABY OWNER’S MANUAL The next part of our creative effort will tackle social acceptance, making it okay for fathers to be more involved in diaper duty. To start, we will speak to fathers in a language they’re familiar with: cars. Since P&G already mails free samples of Pampers, we will take that to the next level by sending dads their very own human baby owner’s manual. Inside, dad will find simple illustrations and step-by-step instructions about caring for his new baby.
PACKAGE REDESIGN
And let’s be honest. Perhaps the only thing more embarrassing for a man than buying diapers is buying tampons. That’s why we’ve cleverly redesigned the Pampers packaging for fathers. Now, instead of walking through the checkout line with diapers, dads appear to be buying things like giant buckets of paint, very loud speakers and really heavy mulch.
CUSTOM WIPES AND RIVALRY DIAPERS Getting dads involved with diaper duty is easy if we simply make it fun. And by letting parents design their own custom wipes on the Pampers website, we will do just that. But nothing will be a bigger hit at baby showers than our licensed sports team diapers. Not only will babies be supporting dad’s favorite team, they’ll also be taking care of business all over the rival team’s logo. The NFL, MLB, NBA and even colleges would jump at the chance to opt in before their rivals do.
MEDIA PLAN Mom
Dad We realized our campaign needed to help the Pampers brand win over households, not just consumers, in order to promote the brand’s future growth. We want to continue to connect to moms, connect to dads for the first time, and connects with both of them together, and we selected these media to get the conversation started.
source: Simmons 2008
MEETING OBJECTIVES Improving brand relevance and brand momentum
Pampers can reassert its status as the most forward-thinking diaper by opening up a dialogue with both sides of the equation, relating to new parents in relevant, interesting ways.
Defending market share and sales in this increasingly competitive category
By shaking up a category that has become predictable, Pampers can win back market share from Huggies, Luvs and private-label brands.
MEASURING SUCCESS Marketing budget: $4.7M +4% projected sales increase with target Incremental sales increase of $16.8M ROI: 10.8% Increase in overall household equity Net profit contribution per baby: $204.35