Healthy Skepticism Library item: 13662

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: news

May J.
J&J sees potential in blogger power
The New Jersey Star-Ledger 2008 May 4
http://www.nj.com/business/ledger/index.ssf?/base/business-9/1209875839185770.xml&coll=1&thispage=1

Full text:

But the first attempt to woo them wasn’t easy

When Johnson & Johnson decided to woo a group of influential women who blog about family life, it spared no expense.

Marketers for the company zeroed in on more than 50 women who write widely read blogs about child-raising and related topics, and invited them to “Camp Baby,” a three-day retreat held last month in New Brunswick. To sweeten the deal, the company offered free plane tickets and lodging at the upscale Heldrich Hotel, named for a former J&J executive.

Scheduled events included a wine tasting with “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” alum Ted Allen, a dinner featuring seared tuna salad and other gourmet fare at the Frog and the Peach and a meeting with some of the top brass at Johnson & Johnson’s headquarters. The company also lined up generous samplings of swag, from Neutrogena skin-care products to a Nintendo DS Lite gameplayer for each attendee.

What J&J didn’t bank on was a bruising backlash from mom bloggers in the weeks leading up to the event. Some invitees were appalled to learn children were not welcome, not even breastfeeding infants. What kind of company, they asked, calls an event Camp Baby … and outlaws babies?

As word spread swiftly through the blogosphere, others weighed in. A New York blogger who works in marketing, Ellen Gerstein, called the botched outreach a “case study in the making.”

“I cannot imagine what J&J was thinking,” she wrote in one post. “Way to build equity with moms!”

A BUMPY START

The event also conflicted with a popular business forum in New York sponsored by BlogHer, a network of women bloggers. And it wasn’t held on a weekend, when child care would have been easier to negotiate with working husbands. Trying to connect with a core group of customers, J&J came off as tone-deaf.

It was an uncharacteristic misstep for the marketing-savvy company. The health-care giant ranks No. 9 in U.S. ad spending, with a $2.3 billion budget in 2006, according to the latest survey by Advertising Age. Its consumer division in particular has built a reputation for adroitly launching new products and adding new life to some of the sturdiest brands in American business, from Band-Aids to Listerine.

Yet the Camp Baby flap illustrates how even the ablest companies can falter when trying to build relationships with customers in the digital age. J&J made a mistake in trying to make a big splash with mom bloggers before it had really become acquainted with them, said Susan Getgood, a Hudson, Mass.-based marketing consultant who has written about the controversy.

“A long-term relationship means more than giving someone a glass of wine and a Nintendo DS,” Getgood said. “You have to actually walk the talk.”

To its credit, J&J did recover its balance quickly. The retreat turned out to be a success and, by most accounts, the company scored points for reaching out to bloggers with complaints. Camp Baby organizer Lori Dolginoff started coordinating damage control while stranded on jury duty in New York City and, once the event began, waited in the Heldrich’s lobby to personally deliver mea culpas to arriving guests.

SOCIAL STUDIES

J&J is smart enough to know it has to explore new ways to appeal to customers, and it ranks as a pioneer among companies building a two-way dialogue with the people who buy its products. Disney held its own parent blogger summit last month, and Sony and General Motors have done outreach in varying forms. But the list of other companies isn’t long.

The use of so-called social media — or tightening relationships with customers online — can build trust, customer loyalty and, ultimately, more sales. And it starts with cultivating trendsetters and tastemakers such as the mom bloggers J&J is pursuing.

People are typically more comfortable buying something recommended by someone they trust, and social media has been called “word of mouth on steroids,” according to Maggie Fox, founder of the Social Media Group, a Canadian firm that advises companies such as Ford on outreach efforts.

“Instead of me telling you, it’s me telling a hundred people or a thousand people, depending on how many people read my blog,” Fox said.

Camp Baby is only part of Johnson & Johnson’s bid to harness that power. The company already runs BabyCenter, one of the leading websites for new mothers, and also has created online video shorts that promote bonding between moms and babies, said Fred Tewell, group product director of Johnson’s Baby brand in the United States.

“We view it as invaluable to creating a relationship with the brand,” Tewell said.

Many bloggers who attended Camp Baby said the most enjoyable part was the opportunity to network with their brainy, outspoken peers. But J&J cannily made sure it had a seat at the table, and the “blogstorm” that preceded the event may have paradoxically eased the conversation between bloggers and company officials.

“Sometimes, when things don’t happen so smoothly upfront, it creates a bonding experience for everyone,” Dolginoff said.

The gathering also underscored the influence of mom bloggers. One speaker talked about a public health program, InfantSEE, that is designed to promote better vision for babies. Within two days of Camp Baby, the program’s website had registered 27,000 hits, Dolginoff said.

“It gives me goosebumps,” she said.

SOLID REVIEWS

J&J officials said they haven’t decided yet if they will hold another retreat, although the company continues to work on other side projects with bloggers.

One participant, St. Louis blogger Jaelithe Judy, said she was taken aback when she first heard J&J wanted to bar babies.

“Many mothers who blog are current or former professionals who have experienced first-hand this weird dichotomy in our culture, where the government and many health agencies are encouraging women very strongly to nurse,” Judy wrote in an e-mail. “But (at the same time), employers and companies that run public places like grocery stores are not doing nearly enough to accommodate nursing mothers.”

Ultimately, however, she said she had a good experience. One highlight was the ability to advocate for better product safety and eco-friendly packaging directly to J&J executives, she said.

“I have to say I found them very receptive to my concerns when I was there,” Judy wrote.

Jamie Reeves, a Nashville mother who runs BlondeMomBlog, said she often gets deluged with corporate pitches. But she said she welcomed the more open-ended exchange with J&J.

“I thought Johnson & Johnson genuinely seemed to be interested in what we were saying as mothers,” she said in an interview.

It’s an open question if that goodwill can translate into product recommendations down the road. Erika Jurney, a Californian who writes the Plain Jane Mom blog, said she may have a more open mind about the company’s goods the next time she hits Target.

“Now, I can’t help but notice when I see the J&J name on a product,” Jurney wrote in a recap of the retreat on her blog. “Was that worth the thousands of dollars they spent on me? Probably.”