Huggies Sponsors Circle of Moms Facebook App
Deal represents Kimberly-Clark brand's first close contextual integration with an app.
Huggies maker Kimberly-Clark is sponsoring the Circle of Moms Facebook app, which claims to reach more than 2 million women with information, advice, and interactive tools.
The campaign was brought together by direct sales company Appssavvy and Kimberly-Clark agency Mindshare. Circle of Moms users who enter the site’s new Huggies-sponsored “Baby Zone” will find an advice column, a mother-to-mother forum, age-specific information about diapers, and interactive tools such as a baby photo uploader.
It also includes Huggies’ “Enjoy the Ride Rewards” program, which offers the chance to win a year’s worth of Huggies along with other prizes. To boost engagement, the site is issuing codes that can be used with the rewards program.
A small startup with less than a dozen staff, Circle of Moms lacks the sales clout to reach out directly to Kimberly-Clark, according to an Appssavvy spokesperson. He added Appssavvy’s team worked with its contacts at Mindshare to get the Huggies deal.
According to Appssavvy CEO Chris Cunningham, Kimberly-Clark is “dabbling in different social media” but has not sponsored a Facebook application. “This is brand new for them,” he said. “From the feedback I’ve received, this is some of the most innovative stuff they’ve bought.”
While Kimberly-Clark has done some work with social media advertising, the Circle of Moms campaign is significantly different in that it is contextually relevant and “wasn’t about banners,” according to Cunningham, although banner ads are a part of it.
Huggies Senior Brand Manager Tim Abate noted the company recently began expanding into other online channels, including video and blog advertising. While the overall percentage of Huggies advertising dollars spent online remains small compared to the brand’s total marketing expenditure, it is growing. He added that more of that online spending pie is being spent on social networking outreach.
The goal for Huggies, Abate said, is to find a way to “better integrate to where moms are spending their time and looking for information” but to do it in a non-obtrusive manner.
