J&J Slates $45M Baby Care Push - Johnson & Johnson - Brief Article

Brandweek, Nov 8, 1999 by Christine Bittar

Johnson & Johnson is planning one of the biggest marketing campaigns for its baby care business in years, coughing up $45 million in ad support beginning next June, along with a raft of product intros. In spite of an anticipated year 2000 baby boom, J&J is also targeting adults with some of its intros, borrowing a page from the beauty care segment to expand its Johnson's Baby Shampoo, Baby Oil, Baby Oil Gel and Baby Bath with botanical entries.

The effort to latch onto the natural beauty trend makes sense for J&J, particularly in body washes where its lone Neutrogena vies with highly fragranced brands that don't use a hypoallergenic marketing pitch. J&J reps also note that much of its baby care business comes from adult usage, said trade sources.

J&J will put $8 million into Bedtime Baby Bath, touted to "soothe fussy babies before bedtime." Two SKUs, retailing for $3.49 and $4.29, contain lavender and chamomile, two of the most popular herbal ingredients in many "natural" bath products. TV starts in April, with direct mail support to 6 million homes, Web sampling and coupons.

Lead agency for J&J's baby business is Lowe Lintas & Partners Worldwide, N.Y.

Also shipping in March:

* Johnson's Baby Oil and Baby Oil Gel with Chamomile supported via $2.5 million in beauty titles.

* Johnson's Baby Shampoo Herbal with chamomile (in Canada since 1996) backed by FSIs, direct, Web and hospital sampling.

* Johnson's Antibacterial Tow-elettes--individually wrapped, alcohol free, hypoallergenic and non-drying--gets $5 million in print ads starting in June parenting books.

J&J spent $6 million on baby care ads in 1998; $8.5 million through July, per CMR.