Johnson’s Baby tries to reinvent itself amid litigation and new competitors – Info Advertisement

Johnson’s Baby, the biggest infant toiletries brand globally, has been losing sales and share for years. Startup brands and natural products have taken a big toll, as has U.S. litigation alleging a link between Johnson’s Baby Powder and ovarian cancer, with a $4.7 billion judgment against the company earlier this month.

New creative from Omnicom’s BBDO and independent agency VaynerMedia draws on interviews with 26,000 consumers globally, and incorporates video and images from 204 people in 52 families, including some very big men cuddling and dancing with very tiny babies.

The products, which have been free for years of some of the most widely derided ingredients—such as parabens and phthalates—now no longer have dyes or sulfates either. So the iconic gold Johnson’s Baby Shampoo is no longer dyed gold, and Johnson’s Baby Lotion no longer dyed pink. Overall, the product line has half the ingredients that it once did, making for simpler labels, and 96 percent of the ingredients now are naturally derived, says Sarita Finnie, senior director of Johnson’s Baby Care U.S.

The changes follow from looking at Johnson’s Baby products the way consumers, and startup competitors, would see them, adds Alison

So the restaging aims to fix the brand’s problems at the core.

“We assessed each and every ingredient and challenged their reason for being,” Finnie says.

Because bath time isn’t necessarily the gauzy bonding moment often depicted in ads but can be fraught with wiggly babies and parents’ fears about dropping them, for example, products were redesigned with pumps that can be used with one hand and soap that comes off in a single rinse.

Because dads play a much bigger role in baby care now, and grandparents are increasingly involved as well, creative in the new campaign brings in a wider family cast than just moms.

“The campaign features only real parents, no actors at all,” Finnie says.

The tagline is “Choose Gentle.” Last year Johnson’s Baby was advertising under the tagline “Johnson’s: For Every Little Wonder.”

That made for a simple creative brief and a campaign about how “gentle has the ability to transform,” Khanna says.

Media behind the effort in the U.S. is 70 percent digital and heavily mobile, built around using a wide range of content that, beyond emotional video, also aims to expand and reinforce messages through short Facebook and influencer posts about the brand’s new simpler, easier-to-use products, Finnie says. Interpublic’s J3 and independent MediaMonks are handling media, with IPG’s Devries Global handling PR and influencer work along with VaynerMedia.

As for the litigation, Finnie says Johnson’s Baby Powder has been around since 1894, contains no asbestos and has been shown by a long list of independent studies to be safe. The new campaign isn’t about that, but she says, “We do believe this is going to show a transformation of what Johnson’s is.”

“It doesn’t happen often where you have this massive leadership position,” Khanna says. “That brings with it a sense of responsibility to remain authentic to yourself. We always had the highest safety standards … but we also had to transform ourselves.”