engaged with the brands, find the platforms authentic, and trust one another. The companies create active communities by ceding some control— in our experience, often the hardest adjustment for marketers.
FoR Procter & Gamble, the main value of Beinggirl. com is not that it drives product sales but that it illuminates the target consumers’ world.
P & G recently encountered firsthand the dark side of social media— the speed with which they can spread damaging messages. After the company introduced Dry Max technology into its Pampers product line last year, promising extra protection and a less bulky diaper, Rosana Shah, an angry customer whose child had developed diaper rash, created a Facebook page dedicated to putting pressure on the firm to withdraw the product. Other reports of rashes and blisters followed, and by May 7,000 parents had joined Shah’ s campaign.
Confident in its product’ s performance, P & G stood firm. Its long experience in the category had taught it that some proportion of babies will always suffer from rashes, and the frequency of such problems hadn’ t changed after the introduction of Dry Max. Aided by its well-established social media network, Pampers Village, and its Pampers Facebook page, the company made its case sympathetically but clearly. It responded to all complaints, offered advice to parents, and explained why the product wouldn’ t be withdrawn. In September the U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reported that it could find no link between Dry Max and the occurrence of diaper rash.
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