John makes a very good point! Fathers need as much support as moms do. As a culture, we are somewhat schizophrenic…we say dads need to equally share in childcare, but in fact culturally we really place the majority of information and support firmly in the mom’s corner…leaving dad cold.

Kimberly-Clark has a great opportunity to be gender neutral and/or become a source of information for the dad to be or new dad. And those who say — well it’s the female who of course would be inclined to go to this site — might reconsider. Having information out there…focused on the male’s perspective of becoming a new parent has plenty of loyalty building potential.

Building loyalty by connecting with consumers outside the store is great. But there is still lots of opportunity to build loyalty by connecting more effectively with consumers inside the store. Retailers can build loyalty through improved product assortments, value added services, and by wrapping experiences around their offering…Home Depot home improvement classes, PETsMART pet training…and hasn’t Starbucks done a nice job of building a community with a physical versus a virtual experience? Brand Marketers have vast opportunities to use the in-store environment in ways that will engage with consumers, build brand affinity and sales, and help their retail customers. Great marketing has multiple touch points, but the physical retail environment still holds perhaps the biggest potential for making connections between people and solutions.

As a subscriber (i.e. I’m a new dad!) to Huggies news, I can say first hand, they are doing as good a job as can be expected although ‘loyalty and community’ around one diaper vender to me isn’t a big enough idea. Programs like this need retailer involvement and multiple vendors to be truly successful over the long haul. That said, good start Kimberly-Clark…let’s expect to see many more of these over time….

We, too, are in the parents-to-be website business, and our service department discovers new concerns and questions almost daily. Our FAQ can hardly keep up with them. Further, many of our inquiries are from couples for whom English is a second language, and their concerns are totally unpredictable due to their culture. They also have difficulty reading the FAQ or composing a coherent email question. Yet, they are customers, and their needs must be met. The customer loyalty rewards are tremendous. We provide some very personal products and services; and thoughtful, quick responses to intimate (and sometimes desperate) questions create trust. It’s almost as if we’re holding our customers’ hands as they try to conceive. As contrast, I recently bought a (flamethrower) Dell laptop; my fifth in the last ten years. I’d say that was loyalty. I purchased my first based on the wonderful reports of Dell’s service, but now I buy based on reliability – not service. That’s because their service stinks. The horror stories are all over the web, so I won’t bore… Read more »

In point of fact, Kimberly-Clark took a long time to do what J&J did years ago with BabyCenter.com. I think what it shows is a new world — one in which the line between content and advertising is much less clear than it ever was.

In my opinion, brands will see great benefit from getting into the content arena online. Sites like Baby Center, Nabisco World, Home Made Simple, and the Kraft Interactive Kitchen took a lot of flack 4 or 5 years ago. People said such content efforts by brands were expensive and would not work. Yet Nabisco World is one of the most popular game sites on the internet.

Not every brand has the type of product or “relationship factor” with its consumers. But I believe we will see more content-type efforts with those who do.

The online community feature of Kimberly-Clark’s outreach is very reminiscent of Hallmark’s community building with their idea exchange (Idex.) In Hallmark’s case, the community provides a rich research resource for the company. It appears that Kimberly-Clark’s is geared more to one-way communication from the company, albeit with targeted helpfulness. The Hallmark program is outlined here: http://pressroom.hallmark.com/idea_exchange.html

John makes a great point and I agree. So much of the ‘baby’ marketing (as likely it should) is focused on the mother. However, there seems to be a gaping hole in the market when it comes to dads. Being back a few years now, I remember the feeling when my wife handed me the child in passing me at the door. (We worked opposite shifts at the time.) I felt lost. But that’s a fairly typical place for me, as those that have read my comments may surmise. My real point, however, is about value. From my point of view, as Doc relates as well, there are factors such as service, reliability, and many others that add up to a quotient that equals loyalty. Kimberly-Clark may be on to something with their website, however. Whether it be mothers or dads, value will need to be found there. The sources of information are boundless and bombarding today. It will need to be much more than that – much more. In this case, where you are… Read more »

While there is lot’s of information online and in magazines, an authority who you can trust to give you a balanced understanding of what to use and what to do is invaluable.

10 years ago, I went through an adoption process. While there were plenty of people offering to help, most had a vested interest in either advancing their charity, or making money off of us. My wife spent an incredible amount of time weeding through all the data to find what was reasonable for us.

There are many aspects of life that could use a concierge; someone you could trust to help make decisions, decipher information, and help deliver what you need to know. Can this be done online?