For Huggies Brand, a $10M Digital Diaper Change

Kimberly-Clark Corporation gave its Huggies brand a digital diaper change this week, to the tune of $10 million.

The company set up a new community, advice and information site at HuggiesBabyNetwork.com, and is supporting the launch with an extensive online and offline campaign.

“It’s being treated like a product launch,” said Mark Cammarota, director of marketing for Huggies Baby Care. “It’s one of our top priorities for the Huggies brand.”

Kimberly-Clark spent a total of $3.5 million over two years building the site, and will spend an additional $7 million marketing it in 2005.

The Web presence aims to grab mothers’ attention when they first discover they’re pregnant, and retain their loyalty during the newborn, infant and toddler phases. Features include expert advice, a virtual nursery creator, an online community, and of course, Huggies product information.

“It’s all about enhancing the equity of Huggies,” said Cammarota. “Moms want to buy products from brands they have an emotional connection with. This effort is about building loyalty and being a total solution.”

The promotional effort supporting the Huggies Baby Network covers brand packaging, event marketing, print and online. AmericanGreetings.com, Parents.com and iVillage are among the properties included in the Web media buy.

The branded content site replaces earlier Web community efforts, including ParentsStages.com, which now redirects to the Huggies Baby Network. ParentStages displayed the branding more subtly than does the new site. Cammarota said early testing found Huggies’ target audience actually liked the more prominent placement.