Pampers for the baby’s day-out

BY ADMIN /   FRIDAY, 13 FEBRUARY 2015 /   PUBLISHED IN FMCG, HEALTHCARE

Awww, the charming lady, carrying the baby, felt awkward when her arms were wet with the so-called ‘nature’s call’ of the kid. Well, “the baby likes you”; comes a voice from behind and everyone laughed it away. But, can you take it positively every time the baby wet your lap? Of course not!  This ‘of course not’ feeling inspired a grandpa to make the most useful thing in the world while you grow your little one.

Creation of diapers that you can breathe, yes you heard right,  is a bliss. Don’t you think? I dedicate this story on behalf of you and me to that god grand father, who turned those wet-moments into happy ones!

How the Pampers was introduced: 

In 1965, a grandpa by the name of Victor Mills, who was a Chemical Engineer in Procter & Gamble, found it cumbersome to change the cloth diaper of his new born grandchild again and again. Therefore, he requested the research team at the Proctor and Gamble exploratory division to make a diaper which a baby could wear for a longer period of time and yet not be uncomfortable. Also could be easily disposable. The P&G team found out a solution and ‘Pampers’ were born.

… they overcame the drawbacks in no time! 

The Pampers was a boon, but had a few shortcomings. First, they were quite heavy and a handful. Secondly, Dallas in Texas, had a hot climate, a very hot climate. These diapers made of thick plastic were uncomfortable for babies, thus they used to cry and also develop a  nappy rash. And the third issue was that they were too costly for parents to buy regularly.

The team at P&G went about trying to sort out these drawbacks. After six months of hard work, they came out with 37,000 handmade diapers, which were readily accepted by parents for use.

The History of the logo:

1961:

There was no logo when the first product was sold to the first customer! It was packed in a plastic black bag with a hydrophobic sheet. Don’t get disappointed, a label is on its way!  Later in the test market in the city of Peoria in United States, the first logo of pampers was advertised to boost up sales. It was a simple blue font, with each alphabet placed separately.  A peacefully sleeping baby’s picture was kept as the face of Pampers.

1962 – 1966:

Pampers has already made a good start in the baby product market. However, they had to be pinned together with safety pins  to keep in place. This became a matter of safety as they were dangerous and uncomfortable to the babies.  So, they had to come up with another solution to hold the diaper together. Also, these diapers were not 100% leak-proof, so another alternative had to be found. Although the label of a sleeping baby was attractive, the diaper quality had to be improved.

During 1959, first time, a continuous process was first designed in the world by the P&G  diaper manufacturing machine. The machine’s output was 150 pads per minute.

1966 – 1985:

The new, improved Pampers were introduced with the new label of the brand. The red and black coloured label helped one to find the packet of pampers easily on the store shelf. The bright color helped one to recognize Pampers’ pack. The new Pampers was made with double gussets. They had elastics at the waist and legs, with proper fitting.

Instead of the pins, stick tapes were added to hold the diapers together. Surprisingly the consumers asking for a diaper used to call-out ‘Pampers’. The label said it all. A baby wearing Pampers was looking cool and comfy. The label helped the company move forward the message of comfort.

Parents were happy as they no longer had to go through the harrowing cycle of washing and drying of endless nappies. Use and throw was becoming the buzz of the day. This, of course, might have made the inventor ‘grandpa’ happy.  Pampers also came up with diapers for toddlers and premature babies.

1976: 

During 1976, the new luxury diapers were introduced with the brand name of ‘Luvs’ with a tagline “Live, Learn & then Get Luvs”. They were ultra thin and lined with a gelling material, which cut down their weight at least 50% from the old Pampers.

1985 – 2001:

The new logo  of ‘Pampers’ used during 1985 and 1992 was softer, smoother, just like a new born child. The diapers were just like the new logo- softer, thinner and with a powdery fragrance.

During the end of 1900s, P&G team not only used the new logo extensively, but also a the powerful tool of advertisement to boost the sales of Pampers. Advertisement played a large role in making Pampers a well known name in the world of diapers.

In the movie, “Three Men and a Baby”, P&G paid $ 50,000 to cross-promote their diapers. It also sponsored the TV show “Make Room For A Baby” on the Discovery Health Channel. Mothers being the most important part in the sale of diapers, P&G used the strategy of mailing Pamper samples to them. Pampers brand got a place in their minds  with a powerful thrust in.

2001 – 2013:

Turn of the new decade, the company came up with a new strategy and a new logo in 2001. The P&G made better and newer varieties of Pampers for newborns upto 5 year olds. As the diaper industry expanded, so did the logo. The new yellow, blue logo with a white background gave a comfort feeling. A heart sprinkled with yellow sunshine made parents feel safe to use the new Pampers for their children.

Proctor and Gamble took up a worthy cause to fight for; the fight against Sudden Infant Death Syndrome(SIDS), a cause of death of babies in the age group of 1 to 12 months of age. The cause of SIDS is unknown, but one of the SIDS prevention strategy was by putting the infant to sleep on their back. As the new logo was a picture of warmth and protection, the company decided to their bit to protect infants from this sudden death by printing the design of a baby sleeping on its back. It is the first time that life saving information is being given to parents in such a novel way.

This was the story behind Pampers brand, designed specially for little soft bottoms. Yeah! the story continues with a new spices, and the baby sleeps.

All Intellectual Properties referred on this website are absolutely owned by their respective owners.

Pampers for the baby’s day-out

Pampers for the baby’s day-out

Who took the first and only bite of Apple?

What would have happened if the red yummy apple didn’t fall on Isaac Newton’s head? Well, keeping the technology aspects on one side, will the logo of the Apple Inc. might have been something else?! It is difficult to interpret what runs in Steve Jobs mind.

The legends of the legendary Apple logo:

The third co-founder of Apple Inc. designed the first logo of the firm during 1976. It depicted Isaac Newton and the legendary apple dangling above his head. On the borders of the logo, the text says “Newton… A Mind Forever Voyaging Through Strange Seas of Thought … Alone”

The story of Apple logo is unique and enticing. One fine day when Steve Jobs invented the name Apple for his firm, Steve Wozniak, the person who is part of Apple computers creation laughed at Jobs and said ‘It’s a computer company, not a fruit store.’ Wozniak might have not thought what the single apple can do!

Another fine day, Jobs wanted something new, something that sounded different for the logo. He then hired the designer, Rob Janoff expecting an extraordinary from him. Rob has never even dreamt, even in his wild dreams that the logo he designed would move the world. Then the rainbow logo took birth.

It lasted from 1976 to 1998. Considering the rainbow like colorful stripes on the motif, Jobs insisted on having those stripes to depict how ‘humanized’ the firm is.  Rob Janoff mentioned that there was no particular reason on using specific colors in the logo. Just that, the leaf part of the logo is colored green to represent a leaf. This flamboyant logo lasted for almost twenty two years till Steve Jobs wanted another ‘change’ in 1997 when he returned back to Apple.

There was time when the ‘apple logo was found to be very expensive’. Yes. It was very difficult to print the colorful logo on the  equipment’s using the four color print technique. It used to consume lot of time, effort and money. Though Janoff suggested the use of  black line to separate the colors, Steve rejected the idea of displaying lines and used the tough technique of printing. Michael M. Scott    from Apple Inc. called this logo ‘the most expensive bloody logo’. Yes, just the print priced so much! 

The firm was bleeding with money from every window. This is the right time to leverage more advantage, to make the motif more    prominent and recognized universally. Then why not showcase it where people can see it? Thought Steve Jobs and his Co.  They even  interpreted that the cause of low sales of the Apple Computers II can be the colorful childlike logo too. Just an iota logo mattered in  huge establishment sales? It did, prodigiously!

The rainbow motif on the electronics and computers looked funny, childlike. Imagine an iMac with a rainbow apple logo.  Of course you will start wondering in a while if the iMac is yours or of your kids.

The stylish apple logo is born. The colors are replaced with more stylish monochromatic appearance. The shape and size of  the motif remains the same. What better logo can be created for Apple Inc. other than the appreciated and dominant Apple  logo? It is used everywhere now, the iPod’s, computers, iPad’s, iMacs and what not. Apple today, is not just a logo of Apple  Inc. It is a ‘Brand’ that is admired, fascinated and loved by people around the world.

The funny, aspiring and intelligent interpretations of the bite! 

For many long years, the rumors about the Apple logo with the motif of a bite on the apple depicted various interpretations to people around.  Few even analyzed the logo as a tribute to Alan Turing, the computer scientist and the revolutionary mathematician, who had committed suicide by eating an Apple injected with cyanide during 1954.

When Rob Janoff heard these rumors, he laughed saying “What a wonderful urban legend.” Few even said that, Steve Jobs  worked in an Apple farm during 1975 and thus the name Apple. Bill Kelley who is part of Regis McKenna Advertising  remembered the history of bite on the apple differently. He mentioned that, the bite is a symbolic representation of  acquiring knowledge. Remember, ‘eating the apple of the tree of the knowledge’? goes back to Adam and Eve.

 The real bite!

Well, to seriously halt the mind to interpret more on what the bite can be, here is the actual reason. Rob designed the bite as he felt; it would help him in depicting the logo as an apple but not a cherry or a tomato. What? Really? Yes.

           

While he was designing the apple, Rob felt something’s missing. It looked complete only  after the ‘  Bite’. Moreover, the sound of bite played well with the computer geeks as it  sounded familiar to ‘  byte’, the aspect related to telecommunications and digital  information. Well, now Tim Cook, the  new CEO shall change the apple to anything else?  Frankly, no body messes with Steve Jobs’s  “apple”.

Apple Corps Ltd. formed by The Beatles in 1967 and Apple Inc. by Steve Jobs began in 1976 had come in face to face with a series of lawsuits. The reason is that, Steve Jobs used a similar logo and brand name for his then new firm Apple Inc. The case ended when Apple Inc. paid a huge settling to Apple Corps Ltd. When asked Jobs, on why choosing only ‘apple’ for his firm he said,

“I like apples and love to eat them. But the main idea behind the apple was to bring simplicity to the people, in the most sophisticated way and that was it, nothing else.” Wow, what a vision for the next-generation technology requirements. He awed every Apple owner!

Besides all brand stories and history, Apple stands 1st as the World’s Most Valuable Brand with a brand value of $ 124.2 billions as in November 2014; report by Forbes.