One year into COVID, many groups had been recognized for how hard COVID hit them (and rightfully so) — immuno-compromised, frontline workers, teachers, and kids. But the expectation to perform at 100% seemed to be amplified with parents. Parents couldn’t find support or encouragement anywhere and what they needed was to understand that even in the hardest of times their love was exactly what their children needed. Pampers entered the conversation to show parents some love with the #MillionActsofLove campaign which resonated deeply, exceeding all campaign goals in the first week of launch.

Pampers wanted to deliver a positive message to as many parents as possible during this dark time. With a limited budget, we had to focus our efforts on the social and digital channels where parents spend their time and make it easy for them to join and extend the conversation. Our benchmarks were based on past campaigns with a similar spend level. In order to make a meaningful impact, we needed to surpass those numbers.

A year into the pandemic, parents needed love and support more than ever. They were exhausted from simultaneously taking on more roles, while losing access to their village, and were hitting their breaking point. 93% of moms reported feeling burned out,3 and the pandemic had 73% of them feeling like they were failing the expectations of their families. Everywhere you looked parents were being talked about in the media, from The New York Times ‘Primal Scream’ to Motherly’s ‘State of Motherhood’ report, it was clear that parents (especially moms) were feeling like they had nothing left to give.

BURNED OUT PARENTS

#MillionActsofLove set out to speak to all parents of diaper-wearing children, especially moms, who had to go at it alone during the pandemic and were at a point of extreme burnout. These parents have had to wear many hats over the last year. Women specifically left the workforce in droves, with lack of childcare being cited as a top reason why.1 And now, every single decision felt as if it was carrying the weight of the world (“Is this safe for my child?”) making it feel like parents could never come up for air.

Despite the real toll parenting takes, parents still find infinite capacity to love their babies.

To build a deeper emotional connection with parents and show them that Pampers truly gets them, we needed to understand the full impact cultural and societal pressures were putting on them. We talked to countless parents and scoured the internet reading post upon post from struggling parents.

The reality is that children increase the level and variety of stressors in parents’ lives. The average new parent gets ~5.5 hours of sleep a night for the first year of their child’s life. Moms get an average of just 80 minutes a day to themselves.5 Not to mention the financial burdens — in the first year a newborn can cost $~13,000+. Throw in a global pandemic on top of the already existing stressors of being a parent, and it’s no surprise why parents were burnt out. Yet, even with all this and the lack of support parents receive, parents dig deep and keep giving to their babies, even when it feels like they have nothing left.

Remind parents that love is what makes the difference to help them love the change more.

This campaign was designed to help Pampers live into their brand purpose and rally support for parents in a critical period of need.

We launched the #MillionActsofLove campaign with a love letter to parents that would reach as many people as possible. But just sending a message wasn’t enough. So we followed up with a TikTok Challenge, Snapchat Filter, and Pinterest CouPins, creating new ways for anyone in a parent’s life to offer meaningful support. These tactics delivered our ultimate goal of spreading a positive message of love and support that fostered an emotional connection with the brand.

Anthem spots, social videos, social posts, digital ads, and a print ad.

A TikTok challenge was the perfect way for everyone to join in supporting moms, in a fun, engaging way by sharing a Mother’s Day act of love. And so were Pinterest CouPins — coupons people could send to parents to offer concrete help, like an afternoon of babysitting.

924M VIDEO VIEWS —10M LIKES, COMMENTS, AND SHARES —

EXCEEDED 2020 CAMPAIGN GOALS IN 72 HOURS

Our message reached our audience far and wide, with 992,000 views from Shay Mitchel’s Instagram video and two times our goal of earned media impressions, totaling 21.4 million. Our Pinterest CouPins brought in 7.8 million impressions and our Snapchat Filter 36.8 million. Overall we met parents and their loved ones where they were with our movement.

At the time of the campaign launch and through the duration of its live work, additional functional-based product ads were running across TV, digital, and social as part of Pampers’ always-on media approach.

The online film garnered 95 million views.

800 million creators participated in the #MillionActsof Love challenge — 29% higher than TikTok’s benchmark and delivered 530K Pinterest CouPins.

Our equity gap increased over Huggies moving from 7pts to 20pts in just over a year, resulting in 99% positive sentiment around the campaign.