Case

Taming Consumer Resistance South Asian Journal of

Business and Management Cases
for Taboo Products: The Case 9(1) 10–23, 2020
© 2020 Birla Institute of Management Technology
of PeeBuddy Reprints and permissions:
in.sagepub.com/journals-permissions-india
DOI: 10.1177/2277977919881418
journals.sagepub.com/home/bmc

Ruchi Jain,1 Anushree Tandon2 and

Ruchi Khandelwal1

Abstract
Changes in business environments continually create opportunities for entrepreneurs to target specific
emerging needs of their customers. The first disposable female urination device (FUD) PeeBuddy was
launched in the Indian market in response to the emergent need among the urban women for a product
facilitating safe usage of public washrooms, especially during travel. PeeBuddy is among the many social
innovations (Alvord et al., 2004, p. 262), making prominent appearances in emerging economies battling
resource constraints (Austin et al., 2006).
  The purpose of this case is to understand the ideation and execution of this social innovation in the
context of countries like India where cultural traditions and subjective norms are held in high regards.
In India, issues surrounding women’s personal hygiene are considered taboo for public communiqué.
This case explores the use of social media marketing approaches used to circumvent extant cultural
barriers hindering the adoption of PeeBuddy, which may be considered as a taboo product in the
context of the Indian market.
  This case is aimed at students undertaking advanced marketing management and consumer behaviour
courses to sensitize them about subjective norms and their deep integration within culturally dominated
communities. It will establish the need for adopting innovative methods for marketing taboo products
and how creativity can be used to retail such products.

Keywords
Social innovation, social taboo, female hygiene, social media marketing, consumer engagement

Disclaimer: This case is written for classroom discussion and is not intended to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling
of an administrative situation, or to represent successful or unsuccessful managerial decision-making, or endorse the views of the
management. The views and opinions expressed in this case are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official
policy or position of South Asian Journal of Business & Management Cases.

1
Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Noida, India.
2
Birla Institute of Management Technology, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India.

Corresponding author:
Ruchi Jain, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Noida 201313, India.
E-mail: rjain@amity.edu
Jain et al. 11

Introduction
PeeBuddy sales had just crossed the million-unit mark and its founders were ecstatic. The Indian brand
had been a pioneer in the category of female urination devices (FUD) and had faced multiple obstacles in
its journey till date (Das, 2018). The PeeBuddy team had gathered to celebrate this victorious moment,
and as the celebration winded down, they discussed new milestones for the future. ‘Our social media
campaigns are gathering traction and generating online chatter. We are finally breaking down the customer
resistance towards trials and adoption’, said Deep Bajaj, one of the founding members of First Step
Digital (FSD), the parent corporation of PeeBuddy. ‘We have to leverage this pull further to solve our
major challenge—breaking down communication barriers surrounding our product and encourage offline
conversations about PeeBuddy for its adoption by the masses,’ Deep continued saying, ‘It will be a tough
task and I want to know your thoughts on the efforts that can be, and should be, made in this regard for
customers and internal stakeholders.’ As he prepared himself to hear the thoughts, views and ideas of his
team on his proposition, Deep reminisced about the journey that had brought them all to this day.

The Origin of the Product Concept

PeeBuddy was the outcome of a family trip that Deep had been a part of (2014), wherein he had witnessed
the struggle of the group’s female members in finding clean toilets. Apprehensive of urinary tract
infections (UTIs), women had trouble using the available public facilities due to their substandard
hygienic conditions. The problem was made worse by the fact that the male members of the group could
not empathize with the women. The country’s sociocultural environment is predominantly patriarchal
and problems related to women’s hygiene are rarely discussed in public. Women themselves are not
comfortable discussing the problem openly. This problem was not just relegated to the trip; Deep’s
corporate experience had sensitized him to the fact that similar problems were faced by women during
their work-related travels.
Deep was aware of FUDs that allowed women to use toilets in an upright or recumbent position and
that had been originally created for women facing medical issues related to spinal injuries, pregnancies
or weak bladders. An entrepreneur at heart, Deep recognized this opportunity to bring an innovative
product to the Indian market, catering specifically to women’s hygiene (refer Annexure 1 for theoretical
framework). His idea was to extend the usage of FUDs for women facing extensive travel in their daily
lives (Cranenburgh, 2018). It could decrease chances of infectious transmission by allowing women to
use toilets in the standing position and thus limiting active contact with unhygienic public facilities. This
idea led to the creation of PeeBuddy, thus effectively creating a new category in the Indian marketplace.
After the product idea conceptualization, Deep and his team began the product development process
by gathering medical knowledge about the female physiology and the ergonomic requirements of an
FUD (Wang & He, 2016). They wanted to create a product that could provide women with physical as
well as mental comfort and ease their frequent hygiene-related struggles. He also wanted the product to
meet the international standards for safety and hygiene. To understand these standards, exhaustive
research was conducted to understand FUDs and their markets. Deep found that, globally, FUDs fit into
the segment of urinary collection devices (UCD). Expecting a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR)
of approximately 5.5 per cent (Research Nester, 2018) at the global level, the nascent UCD market
encompassed five geographical regions—North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle
East and Africa. The growth in the Asia Pacific, especially in emerging economies like India, was
12 South Asian Journal of Business and Management Cases 9(1)

forecasted to rise because of rising levels of consumer awareness for hygiene, an increasing number of
working female population and the rapid development of healthcare infrastructure.
To add value to the product, the design team incorporated the idea of using biodegradable raw
materials and compositional formulations that could be used to create an eco-friendly product. Pulling
together results from the research, several rounds of prototype testing were conducted before the product
design was finalized to be a funnel-like contraption and it was named ‘PeeBuddy’. This phase generated
additional insights that led to the consideration of consumers’ usage patterns for prototype refinement
(Jain, 2018). Deep patented this design and launched First Step FSD, the parent corporation for this
product, through bootstrapping.
As FSD readied itself for the launch of PeeBuddy, the team started to build a marketing strategy for
its launch. It was a new product for the Indian market, and one that could possibly challenge existing
cultural and subjective norms as well as existing taboos. The team had no specific yardstick to follow
and, once again, Deep turned to the global market to develop a competitive positioning platform for
PeeBuddy. His search for similar products at the global level resulted in a comprehensive log of
competitors (Table 1) and some ideas for developing the marketing plan.

Table 1.  Competitive Products

International Quoted Price on

Brands Brand’s Website Unique Product Features
FUD Reusable Options
Freshette US$23.95 to The ‘original urinary director’ for
US$34.95 for one women.
It measures 6 by 1.75 by 6 inches
Whiz US$24.95 for one The purple FUD is the first
Freedom antibacterial and hydrophobic urine
director.
It measures about 6 inches long
and 3.75 inches wide.
Pibella US$21.28 for one It is about 7 inches long and 1.5
inches wide. It is made from non-
irritating polypropylene, which is
recyclable.
GoGirl US$9.79 for one This lavender-coloured pee
funnel is made from medical-
grade silicone that is resistant to
moisture and germs.
SheWee US$12.92 for one The SheWee is made from
polypropylene, which can be
recycled and is NATO-approved
for use by women in the military.
It measures about 6.5 inches long
and 1.5 inches wide.
Country of Origin
The Freshette comes from a
company called International
Sani-Fem, Inc., based in Downy,
CA.
The Whiz Freedom is produced
by a company called Oxford
Devices, Ltd.
The Swiss company created
Pibella Travel for women on the
go in 2007.
The GoGirl is made by a
company called FemMed, Inc.,
based in Minnetonka, MN.
The SheWee was invented in
1999 and the SheWee company
is based in the UK.
(Table 1 continued)
Jain et al. 13

(Table 1 continued)

International Quoted Price on

Brands Brand’s Website Unique Product Features Country of Origin
FUD Disposable Options
The Pee US$29.99 for a pack Made from a thin cardboard A team of doctors created the
Pocket of 48. Also available in material that is waterproof and Pee Pocket.
single and three-packs. works like a funnel Country of origin not specified.
They come with disposable,
hygienic wipes to use.
The Stand-Up US$6.99 for a pack Triangular pee funnel of hot pink The Stand Up is a startup
of nine colour and silver lettering company based in San Francisco,
Being heavily marketed to music CA.
festival attendees who would
rather not sit on porta potty
The Travel US$11.98 for a pack It is spill-proof, a leak-proof bag The Travel John company is based
Jane of three that is filled with an absorbent in the UK.
‘liquigel’ material to capture liquid.
The bag is made from a weave-less
fabric that is biodegradable.
PeeBuddy US$13.99 for a pack The PeeBuddy is yellow-green in The PeeBuddy comes from a
of 20 colour with white lettering. company called First Step Digital
It is made from coated, waterproof that’s based in New Delhi, India.
paper. They are folded flat, making
them easy to carry.
P-Mate US$5.99 for a pack The P-Mate is described as a The P-Mate was created by a
of five ‘urine-directing device.’ Dutch woman named Moon Zijp.
It is coated with a fine layer of wax
to make it water-resistant. 
Source: Compiled from the website—https://menstrualcupreviews.net

Marketing: The Strategy and Challenges

While developing the plan for PeeBuddy’s market launch, Deep found that the ratio of public toilets for
men and women in metropolitan cities was skewed in favour of men; for example, the ratio for male to
female public toilets in Delhi was 10:1. Moreover, women, especially those in vulnerable medical states
like pregnancy, were reluctant to use them as they perceived such toilets to be unhygienic (Tandon,
2018). Deep knew that, theoretically, the increasing participation of women in the workforce, their active
lifestyle, higher numbers of female tourists and general lack of hygiene in public/shared toilets would
encourage the adoption of PeeBuddy in India. With few competitors and a first-mover advantage in FUD
category in India, the opportunity was ready to be availed. But Deep also expected challenges in
developing consumer awareness and realized that the role of nontraditional marketing approaches would
be critical for such a taboo product.
It was thus imperative for the PeeBuddy team to identify the ‘right’ market segment. Considering
psychographic factors such as the willingness to try innovative products and the demographic criteria
like disposable income, the team decided to focus on metropolitan cities for the launch of PeeBuddy.
14 South Asian Journal of Business and Management Cases 9(1)

For the initial launch, the cohort of millennial women was chosen to be the primary market segment. The
team, especially Deep, knew that it would be a challenging task for them to educate the general masses
on PeeBuddy’s usage. Efforts would also be required to raise public awareness for the need to prioritize
and openly discuss issues related to female hygiene.
As a start-up firm with limited resources, the PeeBuddy team had to be highly proactive and careful
while formulating marketing strategies and identifying expected major challenges. From Deep’s per-
spective, the biggest challenge was overcoming consumer inhibition to openly discuss and adopt prod-
ucts for female hygiene, especially PeeBuddy. This innovative product required female users to remain
standing while using the PeeBuddy and could possibly draw negative feedback for its method of usage.
But Deep soon found out that, contrary to his expectations, the biggest resistance to PeeBuddy came not
from the customers, but two indelible partners of the value chain—distributors and retailers.
The product drew severe criticism from distributors and retailers for including the word ‘pee’ in the
brand name (Lobo, 2018). While some distributors and retailers remained unconvinced about the
product’s viability, others feared the inability to sell or disapproval from the public. They were highly
reluctant to stock PeeBuddy. Cultural norms in India censure public discussion of bodily functions, and
discussing female-related issues is a strict taboo. A female’s ablutions and related issues are meant to be
discussed only with other females through private or personal communication. PeeBuddy was challenging
these existing beliefs and norms through its name, design, usage and its very conceptualization.
Additionally, as expected, the idea of a woman standing like a man to urinate received a severe negative
response. This caused the company to halt plans of setting up a physical distribution network and to
explore alternative strategies.

Making It Happen: Use of Social Media Marketing

Facing problems in setting up a physical presence, Deep and his team started exploring virtual platforms
for the launch of PeeBuddy. At that time, the potential of social media marketing (SMM) was being
tapped by multiple organizations with good results. The severity of the negative reactions towards
PeeBuddy made Deep explore the possibility of leveraging his product through SMM. If he succeeded,
Deep could not only find a way to set up a distribution channel, but he could also proactively try to
reduce the expected consumer resistance to PeeBuddy. Excited by the prospect, the team went back to
the drawing board to revamp their strategies for SMM execution.
Deep was aware of the complexities involved in SMM and decided to bring in external experts to
identify appropriate media types, platforms and activities to create a pertinent consumer engagement
strategy. Utilizing primary research along with below the line (BTL) activities, the team used Facebook,
Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn to identify and target virtual communities (VCs) with voluminous
female members. Relevant passion sites and virtual forums were also identified, wherein micro-
influencers and opinion leaders were approached for initiating PeeBuddy-related discussions. While
aiming to build consumer trust through such online chatter (or discussions), FSD’s team also used tools
such as Agorapulse, Bit.ly and Buffer to release pertinent information to boost the discussions and
generate more web traffic. The first stage of the reformulated plan was to educate consumers about issues
related to female hygiene and allied problems faced by women in their daily lives. These became the
major themes for all product-related communication that detailed the context and usage of PeeBuddy.
This could give PeeBuddy a chance to develop a positive rapport with consumers and hopefully diminish
the existing dissonance between the product’s identity and present cultural and/or subjective norms.
Jain et al. 15

Furthermore, Deep was aware that without paying attention to the outcomes of each phase of the
marketing plan, they would not be able to achieve market penetration or product adoption levels that they
aimed for. He guided the team in executing multiple campaigns across these chosen social media channels
in both paid as well as unpaid formats to induce product awareness and trials. Under his aegis, each
campaign was mapped to specific keywords that ultimately helped in measuring the campaign’s
effectiveness through pre-decided metrics such as Reach, Engagement, Acquisition, Conversion, etc.
(refer Table 2). Data-driven insights were used to generate and curate audiovisual content for increased
consumer engagement. Keeping true to the communication themes, the potential of audiovisual content
was correlated with hygiene-related dilemmas faced by women on a daily basis and an emotional connect
was developed between women and the PeeBuddy brand.
Keeping a close eye on the cost of each campaign through the ‘reaches’ and ‘touches’ it generated,
Deep continually tweaked the SMM plan to balance campaign effectiveness and efficiency. The resultant
data established owned channels to be the most cost-effective and efficient. Thus, owned channels were
primarily leveraged as an informative and educational platform. Deep concentrated on the content for
these platforms to deliver hands-on knowledge about the PeeBuddy brand, products, their usage and
disposal to any consumer who ‘touched’ this particular platform.
Deep understood that though owned media could educate and inform consumers, its solitary use
could not build positive feelings or trust for PeeBuddy, and for that purpose earned media would play a
crucial role in meeting this objective. Earned media channels were seen as unbiased and could have a
strong impact on the development of brand advocates and consumer trust in PeeBuddy. In order to
generate positive word of mouth (WOM), Deep encouraged the coverage of PeeBuddy, and its aim of
bringing a social change, by media groups such as BBC, Reuters, Yahoo and others. PeeBuddy was
presented as the need of the hour by these media groups and the resultant consumer comments were
leveraged through owned and paid channels. Consumer feedback on such coverage-related news, product
trials and usage was given utmost priority and was used to refine the product as well as the marketing
plans. The owned and earned media channels were supported by the use of paid social media channels.
Paid channels were used with the objective of increasing the brand’s reach and the number of consumers’
touches. These touches were used for targeting prospects and creating brand recall by supporting other
media channel campaigns.

Supplementing Social Media—Going (Un)Traditional

Deep’s understanding of the Indian marketplace had assimilated him to the fact that social media alone
could not get PeeBuddy the consumer attention his team hoped for. He decided to supplement their SMM
strategies by utilizing a few elements of the traditional marketing mix. Using a targeted approach,
PeeBuddy was introduced to consumers by sponsoring specific health-oriented events like marathons.
To induce trials and introduce PeeBuddy to the general public, marathon organizers such as the Standard
Chartered Bank, Mumbai; Tata Consultancy Services, Bengaluru; and Airtel Delhi Marathon were
approached for brand placement.
Deciding not to go the conventional brand ambassador route, Deep chose to utilize the results of their
SMM strategy to create brand ambassadors from among the general public. The traction developed by
PeeBuddy’s SMM campaigns had created large numbers of influencers with high levels of perceived
unbiasedness and expert power. These influencers included social media users, bloggers, travellers,
runners, corporate professionals and beauty bloggers. Their perceived authenticity helped PeeBuddy in
accessing a large audience to generate persuasive e-WOM (refer Table 4).
16 South Asian Journal of Business and Management Cases 9(1)

To further fuel support for PeeBuddy’s adoption, Deep turned to the country’s medical community for
its patronage. He visited multiple metropolitan cities to introduce PeeBuddy to doctors renowned in the
medical fields of urology, oncology, gynaecology and orthopaedics. The adoption and successful use of
PeeBuddy in specific medical cases led to its widespread recommendation by doctors for hygiene
standards, ease of use and disposal. This added further authenticity to the communication that was
generated by social media influencers and reduced consumer resistance to PeeBuddy. As a result of
Deep’s clever strategizing, PeeBuddy’s adoption gained sudden impetus while familiarizing consumers
with its potential for adding convenience and safety to their daily lives.

Back to the Present

Deep was brought back to the present when the team started debating the future strategies that could be
adopted to further promote PeeBuddy. ‘We have to understand how we can build a sustainable physical
distribution system. Our SMM strategy has resulted in the stocking of PeeBuddy in select physical
stores, but as Modern trade expands, so should PeeBuddy’s retail footprint’, said Deep. ‘We are yet to
break—even and will have to be careful about our strategic moves’, said Mohit, another founding
member of the team. He continued, ‘We have barely scratched the surface of the Indian Market place and
need to figure out how to tap smaller towns and markets which do not have the same level of social
media penetration as metropolitan cities’. Deep concurred with Mohit and continued:

That’s true. We have been able to launch a few product extensions like PeeBuddy Travel Hygiene Kit, vaginal
wipes, Mom & Baby Kit and toilet seat covers but our focus needs to be on increasing penetration for PeeBuddy.
We have been able to help women in metropolitan cities and we want to bring the same change in smaller towns
and cities. We look forward to suggestions from all of you that can help us achieve these objectives.

Leaving the floor open for ensuing dialogue, Deep hoped that the future would be as exciting as the
enthusiasm of his team that began their discussion.

Epilogue
Taboos are elemental foundations of a culture that place certain prohibitions on individual behaviour and
impact people’s lifestyle as well as consumption patterns (Sabri, Manceau, & Pras, 2010). A significantly
under-researched area, marketing of taboo products has been found to be influenced by individual religious
motivation (Muhamad & Mizerski, 2013), product features/ design (Wilner & Huff, 2017) and perceived
moral dangers associated with the taboo (Shao & Hill, 1994). Products that challenge taboos such as
intimacy, diseases or religious censure can often find market constraints (Larsen, Patterson, Sabri, &
Walther, 2018). Since these products act as a yardstick for morality (Michelson & Miller, 2019), they
require specialized treatment (Larsen et al., 2018). Taboo products and their marketing may be looked at
from the lens of the theory of reasoned action (TRA) (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975, 1977) that posits that
consumers’ behavioural intentions are significantly impacted by their individual attitudes and existing
subjective norms. Subjective norms encapsulate perceived social pressure to engage (or disengage) with
specific actions (Sabri et al., 2010). Though the extant research on this theme is limited, Sabri (2017) has
found a communication medium to determine consumer reactions to taboo product marketing.
Jain et al. 17

This suggests that differential communication mediums may be used to reduce consumer resistance
towards taboo products. The traditional alternatives may constitute use of consumer engagement activi-
ties for brand activation, like reaching out to women-intensive places (colleges and schools) for creating
conversation and awareness. However, PeeBuddy took the unconventional way and chose SMM to
bypass the cultural barriers and initiated an open discussion on taboo products through the utilization of
digital platforms and virtual forums.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of
this article.

Funding
The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Annexure 1
The following sections contain information that can enhance the reader’s understanding of the case
objectives and context. These sections have been designed to introduce readers to the concepts related to
social innovations and entrepreneurship and social media marketing. The readers are also advised to
refer to Sabri et al. (2010) for more detailed reading on taboo products and their marketing.

Understanding Social Innovations

For ensuring social and economic growth, it is imperative to explore solutions to social issues, which
establishes the importance of social innovations (Datta, 2011). As per Phills, Deiglmeier, and Miller
(2008), a social innovation ‘offers a more sustainable and long-lasting solution of a problem pertaining
to the product, production or technology, as compared to previously offered solutions.’ Mulgan (2006)
established that ‘if social benefits of an innovation supersede its economic benefits than it must be
referred to as social innovation.’ Furthermore, any idea, principle or a social movement can also be
termed as social innovation if it provides a solution to the existing needs of the people and needs of a
region where a firm operates (Leon et al., 2012).
Such social innovations bring social and cultural changes by offering value to society or a region. The
process of taking up such innovations and sustaining social value is called social entrepreneurship (Mort
et al., 2003). In emerging economies that are battling resource constraints (Austin et al., 2006), like
India, such innovations make prominent appearances. Their consequential effects can be pivotal in
altering social norms and practices (Morrar and Arman, 2017).

Need and Types—Social Entrepreneurs

Intense cultural and biological burdens are present for women with an active lifestyle in urban India,
which calls for gender-responsive sanitation solutions in these regions (Hartmann et al., 2015).
18 South Asian Journal of Business and Management Cases 9(1)

Table 2.  Types of Social Media

Media Type Definition Examples The Role Benefits Challenges

Owned media Channel • Website Build for longer-term • Control • No guarantees
a brand • Mobile site relationships with • Cost efficiency • Company
control • Blog existing potential • Longevity communication
• Twitter customers and earn • Versatility not trusted
account media • Niche audiences • Takes time to
scale
Paid media The brand • Display ads A shift from • In demand • Clutter
pays to • Paid search foundation to a • Immediacy • Declining
leverage a • -Sponsorships catalyst that feeds • Scale response rates
channel owned and creates • Control • Poor credibility
earned media
Earned media When • WOM Listen and respond- • Most credible • No control
customers • Buzz earned media is often • Key role in most • Can be negative
become the • ‘Viral’ the result of well- sales • Scale
channel executed and well- • Transparent and • Hard to
coordinated owned lives on measure
and paid media.
Source: Corcoran (2009).

Table 3.  Segmenting Social Entrepreneurs

Market Makers System Innovators Innovative Campaigners

• Most prominent category • Corporate entrepreneurs who are • Focus on awareness-raising and
• Add social value through new able to see inefficiencies in current education as primary means of
products and services systems creating social value.
• Recognize market inefficiencies • Implement a system-level • Serve to educate and engage the
that prevent servicing of the poor innovation to an underprivileged local community to champion and
or disenfranchised group of individuals defend their own environment.
• Provide economic solutions
to address social problems or
opportunities
Source: Compiled by the authors from ‘Social Value Creation: a qualitative study of Indian social entrepreneurs’ by
Sundaramurthy et al. (2013).

Responding to this urgent call, social entrepreneurs are rising to the rescue through the fluid process of
product innovation (Schroeder et al., 1989).
Sundaramurthy, Musteen, and Randel (2013) identified three categories of such social entrepreneurs
(Table 3).
The creator of PeeBuddy—Mr Deep Bajaj—may be identified as a ‘Market Maker’ as he has an
idealism complemented with realism that directed him to visualize the specific problem and market
opportunity and to designed a subsequently pertinent solution and business model.
Jain et al. 19

Figure 1.  Social Media Pyramid

Source: Randy Hlavac (n.d., Coursera.org—The Business of Social).

Social Media and Integrated Marketing Communications

Social media platforms constitute a hierarchy (illustrated in the Figure 1) that was defined by Professor
Randy Hvalac through understanding the range and depth of discussion occurring among specific types
of consumers across multiple social media platforms.
The relevance of each platform depends upon the objective of the marketer and the efficient use of
multiple sites requires an integrated effort to provide multiple touchpoints for discussion across these
sites along similar lines of conversation. The more integrated the discussion, the stronger the resultant
social media traction generated on these sites.

Social Media: Types and Channels

There are three types of social media channels have been identified as Earned, Owned and Paid media
(Table 2). These channels have been extensively used by digital marketers and are together referred to as
the ‘Digital Trifecta’. Newman (2018) suggests that a holistic marketing strategy should be developed to
‘Create engaging, customer-oriented, and problem-solving content through owned media, with paid
efforts, get that content strategically placed where it can be spotted by your target audience, and finally,
earn the audience’s trust and support and turn them into your brand advocates’.
20 South Asian Journal of Business and Management Cases 9(1)

Social Media Metrics for PeeBuddy Campaigns on YouTube

Table 4.  List of PeeBuddy Campaigns on YouTube

Date Uploaded on
Sl. No. Name of the Media Clip Source YouTube Views Likes Dislikes
Earned Media
 1 PeeBuddy Sequence 1: Freedom Awesome Stuff 23 April 2015 30,577 14 9
for Women to Stand & Pee in
all Dirty toilets
 2 ‘Pee-Buddy’ helps Indian Jenny McCarthy 29 June 2015 4,733 2 3
women avoid dirty toilets
 3 Ladies, Now Stand And Pee! The Quint 30 June 2015 5,034 4 1
 4 Women can now stand TedxTalks 15 February 2016 3,814 38 3
and pee! | Deep Bajaj |
TEDxNizamuddin
 5 Deep Bajaj- PeeBuddy ET Chavi Taneja 17 February 2017 364 6 0
NOW LeadersofTomorrow
ETNOW 10 51pm 05 29min
 6 PEEBUDDY NATURE’5 17 February 2017 278 2 0
 7 CNBC Awaaz Entrepreneur Sunakshi Verma 17 April 2017 252 4 0
PeeBuddy
 8 PAC Foundation and PeeBuddy RGV Love 03 May 2017 4,244 115 12
| An Extremely Honest Review
| Indian Mommy Vlogging
channel
 9 PeeBuddy India—How to Use | Malaika Nangia 31 May 2017 44,293 259 58
Females can now Stand & Pee |
Say No to Dirty Toilets
10 PeeBuddy HD 1080p Anita Thomas 01 June 2017 484 3 2
11 PeeBuddy India—How to Use | Beauty Infinite 15 June 2017 4,769 256 7
Females can now Stand & Pee | (Payal Deshmukh)
Say No to Dirty Toilets
12 Say No to Dirty Toilets— Fravaganza 24 June 2017 3,273 4 0
PeeBuddy India x Fravaganza
13 Female Urination Device— Shimmer and 07 July 2017 2,373 41 1
WOMEN CAN STAND AND Muse
PEE WITH PEEBUDDY
14 India’s First Portable, Miss Audio 13 July 2017 1,089 3 0
Disposable Female Urination Video -Animated
Device Animated Explainer Explainer Video
Video: PeeBuddy
15 Girliyapa’s To Pee Or Not To Girliyapa-Youtube 04 August 2017 2,571,959 42000 4100
Pee
16 PeeBuddy—How to Use Ashwani Kr Jha 16 August 2017 47, 182 47 3
17 Why can’t she stand TedxTalks 22 September 2017 5,593 79 24
and pee ? | Deep Bajaj |
TEDxNitteUniversity
(Table 4 continued)
Jain et al. 21

(Table 4 continued)

Date Uploaded on
Sl. No. Name of the Media Clip Source YouTube Views Likes Dislikes
18 Travel Hygiene Kit- PeeBuddy| Such A Beautiful 12 November 2017 852 100 1
Review | GIVEAWAY Open till Life
25th December 2017
19 How to use PeeBuddy Classic Video 03 December 2017 732 1 1
20 Enabling women to stand and My Big Plunge 22 December 2017 109 0 0
pee; In conversation with Deep
Bajaj, founder of PeeBuddy
21 3 StartUp success tips: How Chalo Start-Up 23 December 2017 17,402 48 9
REAL startups solve real India
problems
22 Elevator Pitch—Deep Bajaj, RTS Lufthansa India 22 January 2018 44,188 2 0
5 Viewers’ Choice Award
23 Lufthansa Runway to Success YourStory 23 January 2018 161 3 0
Season 5 Semi-Finalist—Deep
Bajaj, PeeBuddy
24 PeeBuddy -A short film Kavish Pandit 13 February 2018 302 2 0
25 Overcome your fears with Puja Chaudhary 18 February 2018 295 15 0
PeeBuddy!
26 Pammi aunty and PeeBuddy Ssumier S 09 March 2018 8,060 117 5
Pasricha
27 PeeBuddy for females Trupti Shah 22 March 2018 134 0 0
28 PeeBuddy India—How to Say Frost Fervour 26 March 2018 218 14 2
No to Dirty Toilets || Frost
Fervour
Owned Media
 1 PeeBuddy Europe—How to PeeBuddy 17 October 2015 258 0 0
Use (Females can now Stand &
PEE! Say No to Dirty Toilets)
 2 PeeBuddy—NEWS9 Coverage PeeBuddy 22 February 2016 55 0 0
 3 PeeBuddy India Freedom For PeeBuddy 24 February 2016 3,819 4 0
Women to STAND & PEE—
Users Reaction For PeeBuddy
 4 PeeBuddy helps women avoid PeeBuddy 29 February 2016 194 2 0
dirty toilets—Reuters
 5 PeeBuddy helps women in India PeeBuddy 29 February 2016 794 0 0
to stand and pee, avoid dirty
toilets. No More UTI’s—ANI
Coverage
 6 Deep Bajaj—Founder of PeeBuddy 01 April 2016 7,022 18 0
PeeBuddy Female Urination
Device on NDTV The Real
Deal
 7 WOW Product for Ladies: PeeBuddy 16 July 2017 49,938 97 6
PeeBuddy: Now Stand & Pee!
(Table 4 continued)
22 South Asian Journal of Business and Management Cases 9(1)

(Table 4 continued)

Date Uploaded on
Sl. No. Name of the Media Clip Source YouTube Views Likes Dislikes
 8 Ladies, URINE control to You’re PeeBuddy 31 October 2017 90,432 152 4
in Control! Now, Simply Stand
& Pee: PeeBuddy
 9 Amazing Reaction by Women PeeBuddy 29 November 2017 1,831 23 0
Cricketer! On Dirty Toilets &
PeeBuddy
10 Women Riders, Amazing Bikes PeeBuddy 03 April 2018 79 1 0
& PeeBuddy!
11 Mothers—a blessing! Make her PeeBuddy 12 May 2018 13,530 0 0
day!
Source: The authors’ observation.

Note
1. Since inception, First Step Digital has raised approximately `29 million (US$0.421 million; conversion rate
US$1 = `68.74) through their first round of funding from the Indian Angel Network (https://yourstory.
com/2017/03/first-step-digital-pre-series-a/).

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