P&G's Sarah Pasquinucci on why the diaper brand's Super Bowl ad strategy didn't include a TV

spot.

Feature

Company: Pampers (parent Procter & Gamble)

Campaign: Stinky Booty Duty 2.0
Agency mix: In-house (marketing, communications), MSL (PR, advocacy, and social media),
Friends at Work (production)
Duration: February 1-4, 2019

This year, Pampers went the non-traditional route of creating a Super Bowl ad that didn’t run on
television. Instead, the diaper company released a social and digital-only ad featuring celebrity
dads, including singers John Legend and Maroon Five’s Adam Levine, singing about changing
their babies’ stinky diapers.

Strategy
"Somebody's got a stinky booty. Her name is Luna and she made a poopy."

Those were the lyrics to a song Legend serenaded his daughter with while changing her diaper in
a successful Pampers ad last summer.

The company wanted to do a sequel of the ad as a celebration of dads and the changes
parenthood brings. Enter Stinky Booty Duty 2.0. Brainstorming for the campaign began in
November 2018. By early December, Pampers had settled on a concept strong enough to debut
during Super Bowl LIII as an online-only ad.

"Our goal was to use the nation’s largest advertising and social media stage to connect with
parents - both moms and dads alike," said Sarah Pasquinucci, associate director of
communications for North America Baby Care at P&G.

Many Super Bowl ads are released, and covered by media outlets, ahead of the game, explained
Pasquinucci. Because of this, she said, it is possible to generate buzz without actually releasing a
TV ad, especially since people are looking at their phones while the game is on.

"It’s a multi-screen experience," she explained.

Tactics
The Super Bowl is a crowded field for advertisers, so Pampers deployed a targeted, multi-tiered
approach. It reached out to media well-in-advance of the Super Bowl. The brand used an
aggressive pitching strategy that targeted outlets with parenting and entertainment verticals.

On February 1, Pampers released a public teaser of the ad on its YouTube and social media
channels featuring Legend and his wife supermodel Chrissy Teigen.

The full spot - complete with the surprise appearance of Levine - was released on social media at
3 p.m. on Super Bowl Sunday, slightly ahead of kickoff. It is also on Pampers’ website.

On social media, the ad’s three stars - Teigen, Legend, and Levine - all promoted the spot.
Pampers also tapped a number of dads in the