The problem with the diaper category is that it is fraught with functional claims making Pampers, with its clinical product performance demos and decades of hospital endorsement, the default choice for most expectant Moms. To grow our market share, we knew we needed to find a way to deposition Pampers, while delivering an experience that went beyond double leak protection and absorbent liners.
Hugs have always been a part of our brand DNA, lending us emotional equity. What we didn’t know was that hugs could also lend us the very authority we were seeking. Through consultation with the Canadian Association of Pediatric Health Centres (CAPHC), we learned that hugs are much more than just emotional comfort. They regulate body temperature, strengthen the immune system and promote weight gain – essentially helping babies thrive.
We wanted Moms everywhere to understand and experience the power of hugs so we launched volunteer hugging programmes in hospitals across the country. Together with CAPHC we set up No Baby Unhugged hospitals in which highly-screened volunteers administer hugs to needy newborns (those who’s Moms were still recovering from difficult births or who had to leave their newborn in the NICU to return home to their other children). Our first No Baby Unhugged hospital launched in 2015 and another three opened in 2016.
We chronicled the set up of our volunteer hugging programmes and captured testimony from health care providers on the medical benefits of skin to skin through two online videos entitled, What Hugs Can Do and What Happens Next. We followed this up with Generation of Huggers, an online video, on Mother’s Day to celebrate all huggers old and new.
Moreover, in conjunction with pediatric experts Dr. Christine Chambers and Dr. Marsha Campbell- Yeo, we created the world’s first Hug Plan, a birth plan centered on the power of hugs and skin to skin so that Moms could truly experience their power. The Hug Plan was promoted through a media tour, paid social, print, digital and a national TwitterParty.
All efforts drove to nobabyunhugged.com where Moms could learn more about skin to skin, download the Hug Plan and become a No Baby Unhugged Mom (we made a $5 donation to the hospital hugging programme for every women that uploaded a photo of herself hugging her baby or her pregnant belly).
Between Jan and June 2016, sales of Huggies Newborn Diapers increased by almost 30% and market share rose by close to 5%. Our online advertising achieved a click-through rate as high as 12x industry benchmarks. Social media was the highest driver of database sign-ups, with the campaign achieving over 2 million likes, comments, shares and re-tweets, and an engagement rate well above industry benchmarks, sometimes by as much as 300%. We also saw a 41% increase in database sign-ups from prenatal Moms and over 2500 Moms downloaded our Hug Plan.