Drypers Corporation

Drypers Corporation manufactures and markets premium quality disposable diapers, training pants and pre-moistened wipes under the Drypers ™ brand and is a major provider of private label disposable baby diapers and training pants. Drypers Corporation is committed to the development of value brands and to build lasting global brand equity through product innovation and differentiation in a vital category. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, the company operates in North America, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and other international markets. The company is the world’s sixth largest producer of disposable baby diapers and the third largest marketer of brand-name disposable diapers in the United States. (Kerin and Peterson, 2010). The problems in the case that will be resolved is to decide if Drypers Corporation should move forward with its $10 million dollar television advertising campaign and to get a clear understanding of how the advertising campaign will benefit the company. As of now, it is clear why an investment in a national advertising campaign is necessary. However, it is unclear as to what the advertisement campaign would do. (Kerin and Peterson, 2010).

There will be pros and cons of the advertisement campaign that will be addressed in deeper analysis. The targeted markets for Drypers Corporation are infants and children below the ages of four who use diapers and training pants. Also, the target markets include mothers, primarily between the ages of 18 and 49, who decide on the brand of diapers and training pants. The mothers are usually the ones who make the purchase. The key place item that makes Drypers differ from its competitors is that Drypers was the first to introduce diapers that focused on skin care, in addition to diaper fit, absorbency, and leakage control.

Also, its key promotion item is that it promotes itself as high quality, low priced diaper. The recommendations for this case will demonstrate as to why or why not Drypers should move forward with the $10 million television advertising campaign and to address any questions and concerns on how the television advertisement will or will not improve the Dryper brand image. Furthermore, the issues on what the competitors are doing and how it affects the bottom dollar on the brand will be addressed. Drypers Corporation knows who its key competitors are what kind of annual sales they bring in. Problem Statement

As stated earlier, Drypers is the third largest marketer of brand-name disposable diapers in the United States. (Kerin and Peterson, 2010). The key players in the disposable diaper market are Proctor & Gamble with their Pamper brand diapers and Kumberly-Clark with their Huggies brand diapers. They compete on the basis of product quality, product features and benefits, and price. In 1987, Drypers introduced itself into the disposable diaper market. Proctor & Gamble reigned supreme in the market until Kimberly-Clark came in 1973. (Biesalda, 1996). Proctor & Gamble and Kimberly-Clark already spend a significant amount on mass media advertising to create demand for their products. Drypers has done the opposite and has relied more heavily on promotional spending and cooperative merchandising arrangements with retailers. (Kerin and Peterson, 2010).

The reason why Drypers Corporation wants to spend $10 million on television advertising is build consumer awareness for Drypers as national brand that stands for quality and innovation. Currently, it markets its products through grocery stores due to their general lack of national brand-named recognition. Drypers’ goal is to increase brand awareness which will in turn, hopefully, boost demand which will yield three importatnt results. 1) Increase penetration of grocery outlets. 2) Increased grocery penetration will help mass merchants see Drypers in a new light and help break it into an all-important retail channel. 3) To move away from higher-cost, promotion-driven sales to brand-driven sales. However, two important things to know here are that 1) Drypers has never advertised in its 10 year history and 2) the $10 million expenditure represents a 33 percent increase in the company’s combined advertising and promotion budget. Analysis

The characteristics of modern disposable diapers and training pants are created to be thinner and lighter than their predecessors. Some versions of the diapers have hook-and-loop closures to allow users to open and reclose the tabs. Other brands have sticker-type closures that can only be closed once. Diapers can have skin soothers such as aloe, or they can be left natural. (Terry, 2010). Drypers was the first to introduce diapers that focused on skin care. Drypers with Natural Baking Soda and Drypers with Aloe Vera was introduced in 1996 and 1997. Training pants have characteristics of a diaper and regular underwear and certainly have their advantages and disadvantages. Training pants can be significantly more expensive than regular diapers or big kid underpants. Training pants are useful in that they can easily be pulled up or down with ease. However, a disadvantage is that the training pants are not as thick as a regular diaper. So if and when the child has an accident, it can get messy. (no author, 2007).

References
Kerin, R. and Peterson, R. (2010). Strategic Marketing Problems Cases and Comments. Upper Saddle River, NJ. Prentice Hall Biesalda, A. (1996). The poop on Drypers: For Nearly a Decade, the Upstart Houston Diapermaker Cleaned Up. Then Things got Messy. Texas Monthly July 1, 1996. Terry, J. (2010). About Disposable Diapers. Livestrong.com citing websites: http://www.livestrong.com/article/74229-disposable-diapers/ No author. (2007). Should You Use Disposable Pull Up Training Pants for Your Potty Trainig Child? Kids Health November 3, 2007. Citing websites: http://www.surfnetparents.com/393/should-you-use-disposable-pull-up-training-pants-for-your-potty-training-child63/