P&G Brand at risk of developing a rash?
Proctor and Gamble has found itself in a spot of trouble in its Pampers division which brings in 11% of their total revenue or $8.5 billion. In a nutshell, mothers are organizing on Facebook to protest that the company's new diapers (Dry Max) are causing rashes and chemical burns. So far 7,000 mothers have joined the group. This has gotten so serious that P&G is facing law suits in the USA and Canada as covered by the The Wall Street Journal (which quotes me discussing the issue). P&G is responding to the accusations vigorously and one could argue in some situations defiantly too.I've a lot of respect for P&G and its marketers. They're very much leaders in marketing and I'm sure the team on the diaper brands are too. But I'd like to suggest a few alternative mechanisms for dealing with this crisis. Alternatives that I think may help more.
1. Defending itself against the probe is only going to take P&G so far. No one likes to hear that they're wrong and nor will the mothers (assuming that there is nothing wrong with the diapers). Rather P&G should try to move the conversation from being adversarial to a constructive one. Help those mothers out directly. Let them return their diapers, provide alternatives. Is that happening enough? I don't believe so.
2. Something is causing the rashes, P&G can help find the solution. The mothers certainly aren't imagining that. It is most important for P&G to realize that these customers are hurting in some form. I'm a father of a 14 month old boy. If my boy had those rashes, I'd start panicking sooner or later. As a brand that cares about its customers, P&G should try more aggressively to solve the problem. Imagine the good will that it'll develop if it is able to identify the root cause behind the rashes even if they have nothing to do with a P&G product.
3. Recognize that marketing is customer service and make those investments. P&G faces a risk that the diaper episode will have a lasting effect on its reputation in this space. The only way to solve for this is by acknowledging the fundamental premise that marketing and customer service is blurring. What this also means that the marketers and communications professionals are probably a little understaffed and may even not have the right skill sets to address problems like this. Yes, the answer is you probably need a larger budget and you need to think of customer service more aligned with marketing at least those elements that are social.
4. Don't bash the mothers who are criticizing the products. Currently, P&G has implied that the mothers who are criticizing the product are a small, vocal group that maybe aligned with competitors and do not like the change in the diapers. P&G is welcome to think that but they certainly shouldn't say that publicly. They're alienating mothers everywhere and are sending the message that a customer maybe defamed by criticizing the products. Here's the press release where they imply that.
5. Start a meaningful discusion around the subject and with all Moms. Rather than trying to ignore the Facebook group, engage in it directly. I'm not sure whether P&G is doing that and I think that's a missed opportunity. Furthermore, definitely make this a center piece of the conversations on your own Facebook page. That maybe safer to do but it will show at the very least that you're engaged in the topic, you're listening to your constituents and you're willing to talk to them.
6. Seriously consider what the mothers are asking you to do and have a response to that. The mothers aren't asking for a refund, they're asking for a recall. Now I know these are extremely expensive and P&G probably doesn't feel its warranted at all but that doesn't mean you shouldn't talk about it. I believe it is worth explaining why a recall isn't the answer. Explain why it isn't needed and that if P&G felt a recall was the answer it wouldn't hesitate to take that step. Is P&G doing that loudly and clearly enough? That's debatable.
There's no question that this is a very difficult issue and it is easy for me to analyze the problem without knowing the entire story. But from what I can see, there certainly seems to be something missing in P&G's response strategy.
Follow me on Twitter (@shivsingh) for more insights on digital strategy and social media.
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