Summit 2011: Kimberly-Clark Aims for the Sweet Spot

Clearly defined objectives and strong collaboration among brand teams, retail partners and agencies are critical elements to building brand equity at retail, according to Ken Johnson, senior manager of brand shopper marketing at Kimberly-Clark.Johnson joined Karen Durand, K-C's senior manager-shopper marketing center of excellence, at the Shopper Marketing Summit in April to illustrate the company's approach to shopper marketing by presenting case studies on two award-winning campaigns from 2010: the launch of limited-edition Huggies Little Movers Jeans diapers, and Pull-Ups' promotional tie-in to the theatrical release of Walt Disney Co.'s Toy Story 3.K-C has transitioned from a self-driven strategy to a more integrated approach to marketing in which brand teams work with agencies and retailers to develop programs that can build brand equity while delivering a strong retail hook, Durand explained. "At the end of the day, we are looking to take our brand strategies and our retail strategies and look for that 'sweet spot' to get the consumer to take the right action when she is in "shopping mode," she said.Leveraging Disney's AppealK-C activated a 12-year-old licensing partnership with Disney by tapping into the June 2010 release of Toy Story 3 to merchandise a limited-edition line of Pull-Ups using the film's beloved characters on packaging and the product. (See "Pull-Ups Campaign Earns..." in Related Articles.) The objective was to steer moms toward the training pants category sooner by improving Pull-Ups' overall value proposition over diapers. (More than half the time, potty training occurs with diapers, according to Johnson.)Johnson noted that the entire user base for the training pants category turns over every eight months (the average length of time it takes to potty train). Therefore, adding new customers to the fold "isn't about hammering it out [with] other training pants. It's about trying to get moms [out of diapers and] into the category to start training sooner. So we're always looking for ways to make this unique and incent mom to use Pull-Ups.""The reason we're so successful in training more kids than anyone else is we really get the connection between mom and child," he said. "Mom plays a role, but her child plays a role as well." In that regard, the campaign was "all about leveraging the appeal of Disney."Pull-Ups put its faith in the strong merchandising push at retail that always accompanies a blockbuster Disney film release. "We knew that Disney was getting a tremendous amount of merchandising support," he said. "So, rather than creating something new," the brand opted to "ride that wave of support."K-C tapped into what Johnson called the "Disney bubble," the company's ability to make a wide media impact, by not just incorporating characters into the product and and packaging but also providing "motivational messaging" for potty training employing the film's lead characters ("Woody" and "Buzz") in national TV and radio spots. (See video below.)In a promotional overlay, packaging carried in-pack codes that could be entered online to unlock exclusive rewards such as animated videos, free-product coupons, and scheduled phone calls from characters to congratulate children on becoming a "big kid."The program also boasted a number of account-specific overlays in which the overall program was tailored to appeal to the retailer's unique shoppers. Johnson presented two examples:At Walmart, K-C promoted the product in circulars and direct-mail pieces sent to customers in the retailer's database. Online, the manufacturer tapped into the "Walmart Moms" blog network on Walmart.com to generate word-of-mouth buzz.In stores, K-C tapped into Walmart's broader merchandising program (see "Walmart Field Report: July 22, 2010") to gain strong secondary placement for themed pallets in the retailer's "Hot Spot" area. It also ran ads on the in-store Smart Network (collecting 24 million impressions). At the shelf, exclusive packaging carried potty-training CDs and codes entered on a branded K-C mobile-friendly website to access informational videos and other exclusive content to help with training.The campaign delivered a positive return on investment and a double-digit sales lift for the category, Johnson said.Meanwhile, the program for Walmart's Sam's Club naturally centered on pallet placement. "If you have your products in club, you already know you've got to have those pallet positions work very hard for you," Johnson noted.K-C supplied pallets carrying both Huggies Stage Five diapers and Pull-Ups. The Huggies packaging contained informational DVDs and letters of encouragement to help moms prepare for the training pants stage. Pull-Ups packaging carried callouts for the K-C mobile site, while themed pallet skirts were designed to "stop mom in her tracks." Elsewhere, an email blast promoting the products was sent to consumers in Pull-Ups' database (cross-indexed with Sam's' member rolls). Non-member recipients also received a free one-day shopping pass to the club store. The promotion resulted in an immediate bump in sales for the category and a single-digit increase in the brand's base business at Sam's over the long term.Function Meets Fashion (and Fun)Johnson also outlined the summer 2010 rollout of limited-edition Huggies Little Movers Jeans diapers, which gave the product a designer flare by imprinting it with a jeans pattern). The limited-edition concept sought to get moms out of "autopilot" mode when shopping for diapers by generating buzz about a "fashionable" alternative. (See "Huggies Unveiled ...")According to Johnson, the program's success was based on K-C's ability to:Make it a coveted item. Promoting the diapers as a limited-time offer helped build hype and draw new consumers to the brand. Buzz-building efforts included a fashion show in New York's Union Square and advertising on the "Geoffrey Tron" digital billboard adorning Toys "R" Us' flagship store in nearby Times Square.Keep it on brand. "Huggies' approach to parenting is not to take things too seriously," said Johnson. "Things are done with a little sass, a wink and a smile. And that's what you see come across in the television ad." (See video below.)Make it exclusive. "It has to build your brand equity, but it also has to differentiate the retailer," Johnson said. From in-store demos and customized store gift cards at Babies "R" Us to a multi-month endcap program and Extra Bucks offers at CVS/pharmacy, K-C tailored in-store activity to each retailer, encouraging accounts to join the planning process.About half of "Jeans" buyers were new to the Huggies franchise, Johnson noted. Additionally, K-C posted higher ROIs than what they typically get at the participating retailers, and the brand gained incremental sales growth."The overall story with Jeans is, it's less about what you're doing for this one-time pop [and] more about how are we incenting mom to try a higher-tier product," Johnson said. "Because that's how [our brands] are going to win day in and day out. It's a limited time, but it allows [shoppers] to move more into the higher tiers of the category, which is going to grow [the retailers'] top line and their bottom line."

Summit 2011: Kimberly-Clark Aims for the Sweet Spot

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