The problem with the diaper category is that it is fraught with functional claims making Pampers, with its clinical product performance demos and decades of hospital endorsement, the default
choice for most new Moms. For Huggies to grow its market share, the diaper brand knew it needed to find a way to deposition Pampers, while delivering an experience that went beyond double leak protection and absorbent liners. Moreover, given that the relationship with a diaper brand lasts many years and is worth roughly $1 billion, Huggies knew there were huge rewards to be reaped for being the first diaper brand to land in Mom's shopping cart.

Hugs have always been a part of Huggies brand DNA, lending the brand emotional equity. What Huggies didn’t know was that hugs could also lend it the very authority it was seeking. Through consultation with the Canadian Association of Pediatric Health Centres (CAPHC), the diaper brand learned that hugs are much more than just emotional comfort. They regulate body temperature, strengthen the immune system and promote weight gain – essentially helping babies thrive.

Huggies, with its agency Ogilvy, wanted new Moms everywhere to understand and experience the power of hugs so it launched volunteer hugging programmes in hospitals across the country. Together with CAPHC it set up No Baby Unhugged hospitals in which highly-screened volunteers administer hugs to needy newborns (those whose Moms were still recovering from difficult births or who had to leave their newborn in the NICU to return home to their other children). The first No Baby Unhugged hospital launched in 2015 and another two opened in 2016.

Huggies chronicled the set-up of its volunteer hugging programmes and captured testimony from health care providers on the medical benefits of skin to skin through online videos. Moreover, in conjunction with pediatric experts Dr. Christine Chambers and Dr. Marsha Campbell-Yeo, Ogilvy created the world’s first Hug Plan, a birth plan centered on the power of hugs and skin to skin so that new Moms could truly experience their power. The Hug Plan was promoted through a media tour, paid social, print, and digital.

All efforts drove to nobabyunhugged.com where new Moms could learn more about skin to skin,
download the Hug Plan and become a No Baby Unhugged Mom (Huggies made a $5 donation to the hospital hugging programme for every woman that uploaded a photo of herself hugging her baby or her pregnant belly).

Between Sept 2016 and Dec 2016, market share rose by almost 3%. Huggies online ads, including hyper-targeted placements on Baby Centre, achieved a click-through rate as high as 10x industry benchmarks and were the highest driver of database sign-ups. The campaign achieved hundreds of thousands of likes, comments, shares and an engagement rate well above benchmarks. Over 8K Moms visited the Huggies website to download the Hug Plan and over 10K Huggies samples were distributed.