Once upon a time, many moons ago, Pampers tried to enter the Chinese market and failed. A mere 9 years later and Pampers were now the market leaders for disposable diapers in China, a market they'd essentially built. The difference? Ethnography.
In 1998 Pampers had created a cheaper version of their US diapers, assuming the Chinese market would appreciate the lower prices. To their surprise, the product went nowhere. The diapers were lower quality and parents weren't interested.
Pampers had missed two key insights:
In China, many children wore crotchless bottoms that helped them in the potty training process. The bottoms eliminated the need for diapers, reduced the risk of rashes and reduce envirnomental damage. Why would the Chinese change cultural habits for a cheap foreign brand?
There was a growing middle class in China who wanted the best for their only child.
The above insights were unearthed by a team of ethnographers working for P&G at the time. To understand Pampers' sudden success, let's focus on the second insight.
The ethnographrs discovered that first time parents were most concerned for their child's cognitive development. They poured as much resource into their child's wellbeing and cognitive development as possible.
Enter: sleep. A key ingredient for cognitive development.
Armed with the new research, Pampers completed a study that revealed babies wearing their product saw a 30% improvement in sleep quality: falling alseep faster, sleeping for longer and waking up less often throughout the night.
The study findings were used in a campaign called Golden Sleep. It promoted the superior sleep quality, and by extension development, offered by Pampers diapers. The company also increased the quality and the price of the diapers.
And that, boys and girls is the story of how Pampers became the leading provider of diapers in China. Now, Pampers diapers are as widespread as crotchless bottoms. So, make sure you pay your ethnographers well. 'Cus they could be your saving grace.
I'm slowly returning to feeling normal. My usual state in recent years has been overall good and I'm starting to get a regular taste of that again. After the last ~4 months, it feels like a blessing.
I'm 90% through my MVP portfolio. What I've learnt is
1] I prefer working quickly and shipping often because
2] Long projects become stale. At a certain point, all the interesting aspects of a project disappear.
The last few weeks have been a battle between my perfectionism and the budding desire to ship fast, fail quick and try again. Explosive making is far more attractive than slow, perfected making.
Saying the above, I've also learnt that change requires patience. I'm now in the space between awareness: having seen and felt the desire for a new state, and transformation. It can be an infuriating stage so I remind myself to be patient.
Ciao. I hope you're safe, happy and feeling pretty.
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