J&J's Web Ads Depart From TV Formula†
Baby-Lotion Cartoons Play Up Bonding Time: Risky Marketing Turn
Wall Street Journal, February 12, 2008 — Johnson & Johnson is one of the largest television advertisers in the U.S. But to promote its best-selling baby lotion, the company is putting most of its effort into a different approach: Web cartoons.
In one of its animated Web videos, as a mother starts massaging her daughter's feet, legs and chest, her baby giggles, smiles and makes eye contact. Pink swirls meant to represent the lotion's scent fill the screen.
The ads for Johnson's Baby Lotion, developed by an animation studio, not an ad agency, attempt to highlight the emotional connections babies build with their mothers. In contrast, most of J&J's competitors focus on the medicinal benefits of baby lotion. Johnson's is favoring the Internet over TV because it believes young parents scour the Web for baby-care advice.


