The Nine-Month Campaign

Makers of baby products try to beat the stork into expecting households.

When Janice Uhlin-Rowe of Charlotte, NC, became pregnant for the first time five years ago, she was almost immediately bombarded with free samples in the mail.

The onslaught began again two years ago when baby No. 2 was on the way. Arriving daily were coupons for Pampers and free subscriptions to parenting magazines. Similac even delivered a whole case of baby formula in glass bottles to her doorstep.

Uhlin-Rowe is expecting her third child in June, and says she’ll let the barrage of brands work to her advantage this time rather than annoy her. “You can get so overwhelmed with all the stuff they want to give you,” she says. “I consider most of it helpful. The coupons are, for the most part, things I can use. If you’re going to buy it anyway, you might as well have a coupon.”

Childbirth is an exciting period for couples, a time when they spend lots of time and money preparing for the new arrival. And in many cases, they’re more than a little apprehensive about their future roles as parents, and are more than happy to hear a little friendly advice from baby-product manufacturers.

That’s why some marketers seem as interested as grandparents about the delivery date, and will track Mom’s progress almost from the moment she learns the good news until she’s post-partum in a hospital bed.

The National Center for Health Statistics estimates that about four million babies will be born in the U.S. this year. Families spend between $5,000 and $7,000 during the first year of a baby’s life, which equates to almost $15 billion annually for maternity and baby items. And while it’s not exactly a growing demographic, it is extremely consistent: The number of yearly pregnancies has floated between 3.8 million and 4.3 million for the last 50 years.

New mothers and fathers need to purchase a lot of products with which, in many cases, they have no prior experience: baby clothes, maternity apparel, formula, food, strollers, baby wipes, cribs, and a host of other products. So marketers of the those brands jump at the chance to reach them before baby does.

“These are the products new mothers will make decisions on right away,” says Tami Jones, spokesperson for Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble, maker of uber-diaper Pampers. The brand is known in just about every home, due to its longevity and its expansion from the core product into just about anything baby. In January, it will make its first-ever foray into clothing by offering a full line of branded sleepers, bibs, and layette (manufactured by New York City-based Dana Undies).

For 25 years, Pampers has supported parenting education by providing free teaching materials to hospitals and community classes, as well as free Pampers to about two million couples each year.

For the past year, Pampers has used an alliance with East Aurora, NY-based Fisher-Price Toys to make new moms feel comfortable while they await labor day in hospitals. Gift boxes distributed by Growing Family, a St. Charles, MO-based sampling company known for taking baby’s first pictures in hospitals, contain free samples of Pampers as well as a Fisher-Price toy. “Babies need diapers from day one, and we can make the decision a little easier by giving a sample,” says Jones.

Doctor’s Helper Surprisingly, in today’s age of the independent working woman, the average age for new mothers is still around 23. But a greater number are waiting until their 30s or even 40s to bear children, which conceivably means they have amassed more of a nest egg to spend on them.

About 60 percent of new mothers are experienced baby buyers who are shopping for thrifty deals and the best values, according to Molly Ingram, a spokesperson for Glenview, IL-based sampling distributor Bounty SCA Worldwide. The remaining 40 percent are first-timers who have little or no baby-shopping experience and make “emotional purchases.”

The most common method of reaching expectant mothers is through direct-mail sample packs, magazines, and coupon programs sent to lists supplied by ob-gyns. For instance, Similac Toddler’s Formula, made by Columbus, OH-based Ross Laboratories, has over the past year sent out boxes containing “Baby’s First Teddy Bear” to about one million women as a soft-sell invitation to join the brand’s Internet-based Welcome Addition Club.

The club, which costs nothing but the submission of a little personal information, offers parents free planning tips and advice as well as discounts on Similac formula. For its effort, Similac gets a database they use to send promotional materials for up to one year.

As the front lines for expectant mothers, ob-gyn offices and childbirth education classes are filled with magazines like Parenting and American Baby. The publications are also often included in sampling packs distributed to patients by such companies as Chicago-based Bounty SCA and American Baby Group, along with free goodies including Huggies diapers, Mr. Clean Wipe-ups, Gerber baby food, and Disney books. The packages often contain items that aren’t directly related to pregnancy – Glad trash bags, Honey Nut Chex cereal, hand lotion, and other items that may make mom or dad’s life a little easier.

Virtual Baby So-called “mommy portals” are springing up everywhere on the Internet. Brand Web sites, online shopping centers, and parenting education sites beckon to new moms to join the online maternity ward.

San Francisco-based BabyCenter.com came onto the scene in 1997 with Pampers as its inaugural sponsor. Since then, the site has grown to reach almost one third of all pregnant women, many of them as they seek preliminary information before they even visit a doctor, says spokesperson Lara Hoyem. She estimates that more than 20 percent of the site’s audience is looking for tips on how to get pregnant.

“Parents more than ever are being seen as a potential market because they are spending more to give their children the best,” Hoyem said. “Vehicles like the Internet are making it easier to target them.”

Babycenter.com promoted itself early last year with a doctor’s office promotion that reached about 750,000 pregnant women. The effort had doctors handing out pregnancy planners directing parents to the Web site, where they found a variety of expert advice as well as product information and links to the sites of such sponsors as Pampers, Clorox, and Beech-Nut.

A new site called TheFirstDay.com, a collaboration from New York City-based Sesame Street Productions, FujiFilm, Bounty SCA, and Photoworks.com operated by 3Buddies.com, Overland Park, KS, lets parents create a Web site for their child – complete with images of Bert and Ernie, Cookie Monster, and Big Bird. As a membership incentive, the site is running a few sweepstakes offering FujiFilm product, Pampers diapers, and a year’s worth of free rentals from Blockbuster Entertainment.

“Having a baby is a life-changing event. Your social life as you used to know it changes,” says Jim Notarnicola, chief marketing officer at Dallas-based Blockbuster. “Video rentals go way up, both as a learning tool and as a surrogate babysitter.”

Mommy Sitting Of course, mom also needs a few things for herself – primarily clothes that will accommodate that expanding tummy. But maternity clothes no longer resemble the oversized housecoats of old. Stores devoted to expectant mothers are coming out with designer clothes meant to flatter the new shape rather than hide it. Even mainstream shop The Gap now offers maternity wear (although exclusively online). Tank tops, stretch pants, suits, even tight leather pants can still be in for moms-to-be.

“Women don’t want to change their looks when they’re pregnant,” says Tomii Crump, assistant manager of publicity and promotions for Philadelphia-based chain Mimi Maternity. “They want to stay in fashion, and it’s something we’ve been able to pull off well.”

Mimi, which also runs a Web site called MaternityMall.com along with three other lines of maternity wear, ran a “Motherhood and Apple Pie” campaign in November through which it offered a $2 coupon for Mrs. Smith’s pies with every $50 purchase.

Promotions like that could satisfy an expectant mother’s cravings.