Putting Diapers on ‘Kaidangku’ Bottoms: A Procter & Gamble Chinese Story!

When Procter & Gamble first launched its branded diapers, Pampers in China - way back in 1998 - Chinese mothers were known to drape their babies in cloth diapers, if they used one that is. Many of them would use none as the more user-friendly kaidangkus, the colourful open-crotch pants worn front-side backwards that facilitated an as-easy-as-it-comes, just-squat-and-relieve regimen was a traditional choice for their kids right from a tender age of six months.

Therefore, though the market presented with a huge opportunity the situation presented itself with a daunting challenge for P&G as it would need to bring about a mindset change in a society that failed to see a need for diapers. Pampers began its first dent in its more plasticky, less soft avatar that pitched on its price point to get started.

Failing to take off as intended it later revamped itself into a more soft, less plasticky, better absorbing Pampers Cloth Like & Dry diapers. Today, P&G has come a long way with Pampers being a top-ranked brand having garnered a 30% share of the $1.4 billion diaper market projected to grow annually at 40 percent for the next few years.

The credit for P&G’s success in China goes to its ability to capture the hearts and minds of mothers. If initially it was the ability of Pampers to keep the baby as comfortable as in a cloth diaper while keeping it dry for 10 hours, more recently it is the “Golden Sleep” campaign that has worked for the company.

Coming on the heels of exhaustive studies conducted in conjunction with Beijing Children’s Hospital’s Sleep Research Centre which concluded that babies wearing disposable diapers (read Pampers) slept 30 minutes longer each night while falling asleep 30 percent faster, the “Golden Sleep” campaign has been a great hit. With the study crediting the extra sleep to enhanced cognitive development in the kids, when Pampers’ Chinese website kick-started a viral campaign asking parents to upload photographs of their sleeping babies, it met with an unprecedented response. It was then easy for in-store campaigns and mass carnivals to drive home the message of sleeping well further.

Oxford professor Karl Gerth, an authority on the spread of Chinese consumerism puts the success of P&G’s marketing campaigns in perspective when he states: “You don’t want to come off as paternalistic. The idea that Pampers brings a scientific backing and gives children an edge in their environment — that’s a brilliant way to stand out from the competition.”

But P&G is aware it has just about scratched the surface of the disposables market in China as diaper use in the Asian country still accounts for less than one per day amongst babies who wear them. Pampers surely has a lot more of education to impart to the Dragon!

- myVox

PS: From a bnet.com story by Mya Frazier