Huggies Case Study: Turning Product Sampling into Word-of-Mouth and Brand Advocacy

Imagine choosing diapers for a baby. The packaging promises absorbency and comfort, but it cannot say whether a diaper will hold through the night or irritate delicate skin. Another mother can tell you how it worked for her baby. The same principle applies well beyond diapers: firsthand reviews help people understand how products perform in everyday life, giving brands something valuable that their own claims cannot provide.

The difficulty lies elsewhere. Reading reviews and writing them are different habits: people may rely on other customers’ opinions without sharing their own, so a brand cannot simply wait for the conversation to start. It has to get its product tried and then talked about. One approach is word-of-mouth (WOM) sampling: selected consumers receive the product, test it in daily life, and are invited to share what they think.

Huggies partnered with amma.family to put this approach into practice in Colombia and Costa Rica. amma.family is a global platform connecting millions of women and families with meaningful content, experiences, products and brands throughout their motherhood journey. The campaign delivered Huggies diaper and wipes kits to 450 participants, generated 924 reviews and comments, and had an estimated potential reach of 1.5 million people.

The Strategy

amma.family drew on its community of mothers in Colombia and Costa Rica to identify and recruit participants for the WOM sampling campaign. The company managed the process from start to finish, coordinating delivery of Huggies diaper and wipes kits directly to participants’ homes.

The work continued after delivery. amma.family followed up with participants to support genuine product trials, collected proof of their social media posts, and monitored the conversations that followed. The campaign also involved nano- and micro-influencers to extend its reach beyond the recruited participants.

The Results

The campaign delivered 450 product experiences to relevant consumers and generated 924 reviews and comments, exceeding the original target by 3%. Its estimated potential reach was 1.5 million people, 66% above target, while 90.3% of recorded reviews and comments were positive.

The conversation also extended beyond the recruited participants, generating 67 additional organic comments from mothers who joined the discussion spontaneously. Their participation showed that WOM activity was not limited to those originally invited to take part.

Beyond Product Sampling

The Huggies campaign showed how product sampling can achieve more than getting products into consumers’ hands. By combining targeted recruitment, end-to-end campaign management and social amplification, amma.family helped turn individual product experiences into conversations and recommendations that extended beyond the initial participants.

But these conversations also have value beyond their reach. At the end of each campaign, amma.family prepares a comprehensive report bringing together performance metrics, consumer feedback, qualitative insights and actionable recommendations to help brands better understand their audiences and inform future strategies.

In this way, WOM sampling becomes more than a means of generating reviews. It brings real consumer experiences into the conversation around a brand, while giving the brand a clearer picture of how its audience responds to its products.

Author – Diana Tlapale is Executive Director of the Americas at amma.family, representing the company in the region.

Source: amma.family

  amma.family, Diana Tlapale, Huggies, Marketing, Opinion Piece